Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Bella's POV
My first instinct was to be disbelieving. What was the point of this joke? There were no such things as vampires.
But then, as I really thought about it, my mind began to reel.
All I could do was stare.
Demetri's hand held onto mine with a firm, cold, alien grip.
I saw the strange golden eyes of Aro, Marcus, and Caius. I saw the mixture of strange eye colors that Demetri, Felix, and Alec had. I saw the perfect paleness of their skin, and how it never seemed to flush with color like pale skin normally would, pale skin like mine.
I thought about how I had never once seen Felix, Alec, or Demetri eat or drink, at all. How whenever I asked if they were hungry, they had, "already ate."
The perfection of their features, the vast intelligence, the grace in which they moved, the foreign but enticing scent that all of them possessed, the strange beauty of their voices.
It all made sense. But how could vampires exist?
Then another terrifying thought entered my mind. Vampires were predators, monsters, murderers. They could not exist without drinking blood… human blood. I felt all the blood drain my face at this thought. The voices that tried to get through to me fell on deaf ears, the only sound I could hear being the racing of my frenzied heartbeat. I sank to my knees in confusion and despair.
A few moments, or maybe hours later, for every second passed like an eternity, my name finally began to assault my ears from everyone's lips.
"Bella. Bella, please listen to me." I heard Demetri's voice plead, his cold arms wrapped around my body as he knelt on the floor beside me.
"C'mon Bella, it's not what you think. Just listen to what Aro has to say." Hannah soothed, stroking my hair from the other side of me.
Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella. My name assaulted my ears endlessly, but I could not respond, could not get my body to me move. I was paralyzed by fear and confusion. Demetri's lips at my ear as he murmured reassurances was what finally prompted my limbs to thaw, and I slowly stood, lifting my eyes to meet Aro's once again.
"Vampires." was the only word I was able to utter as his filmy golden gaze searched mine.
"Yes, we are vampires," Aro confirmed, looking concerned. My heart raced on. "But we choose to abstain from human blood, so you need not worry about any of us attacking you. We value human life. Hannah and Chala are as human as you are, and they have never been harmed under our care. You can see that with your own eyes."
I spared as glance at Hannah and Chala. They stood, gazing at me with concern and sympathy in their eyes. They were as beautiful and whole as ever. I took a deep breath and looked back at Aro. Something in my face must have relieved him, for he smiled gently and continued talking.
"As vampires, we must live carefully so we do not arouse human suspicions. We would not want them becoming aware of our existence, for if they did it would put our entire kind in danger. Marcus suggested that we adopt human children so that we would appear more normal. Demetri, Felix, and Alec have been with us for centuries, but they are too much like us, as they are vampires as well. So we agreed to find humans to adopt. Marcus found Hannah and Caius found Chala. Now I have found you through Demetri. We have practiced self control for thousands of years to get to the place we are today, a place where human blood is not tempting enough to make us kill. Your family cannot know about us." Aro explained.
"But what if I want to go home? What if I do not want to leave my family?" I had finally found my voice, and anger was welling within me. He was basically telling me I had to leave everything behind, that now I had no choice!
Aro shook his head sorrowfully. "I am sorry, Bella. Once you chose to be with Demetri, you chose your fate. You were not informed and it may seem unfair. But no human can live and know about us. You will have to become one of us. Not today, not tomorrow, we will wait until you are ready. But it must happen within a few years. We cannot risk our secret being let out."
My heart pounded with fear. "I swear I won't tell anyone! What about Chala and Hannah? They know about you and they're still humans!" I exclaimed.
"We have chosen to make the transformation after we graduate high school. We both left empty lives behind back home in the States, and we have found our lives here, in our boyfriends and future husbands. We have found love. Demetri is in love with you, Bella. Perhaps he was unwise to put you in this position, but it cannot be reversed. Agree, be our sister. We don't want to lose you." Hannah said to me softly, the maturity in her voice the same as it had been since the day she first introduced herself to the class on my first day at LDV. Chala nodded her agreement, silent and solemn for once.
I felt fear and confusion and regret, and I could not see any good in this. I wanted to turn on Demetri, to scream at him, to curse him for destroying my life and subjecting me to a future where I could not have my father, my mother, my brother. But I know he had not intended to hurt me or to have anything dear taken from me. He had simply loved me, and I him. It wasn't fair, and perhaps I regretted it, but nothing could be reversed now. I looked over into his face, and the expression on it made my heart ache. His eyes were remorseful, regretful, and full of fear. He feared that I would fight this. But I wasn't that stupid.
I took a deep breath and looked back at Aro. "So you're basically telling me I must become like you one day… or die." The last word came out hard and resentful.
Aro nodded, his face unreadable now.
I sighed, defeated, tears stinging at my eyes. I looked down. "Well I don't want to die." I said, my voice cracking. I felt defeated and the saddest I had ever been.
Demetri pulled me into his arms and hugged me firmly. I felt no comfort as I usually did.
"Would you like to know more about us?" Aro asked me, his already light musical voice softer than ever.
Demetri released me and I shrugged, wishing I could just go somewhere away from everyone and cry the tears that seemed to fill me up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.
"Well, vampires are all inherently super strong, resilient, and have extremely superior senses. We can see, hear, taste, and feel far beyond the capacity of humans. But some vampires possess talents beyond the ordinary. I am one of those vampires, and so is Marcus, Alec, Demetri, Alec's twin sister Jane, other members of the guard, of whom you have met, and even Felix in a way." Aro explained. I felt a small spark of interest at this new revelation.
Aro saw it in my eyes and hurried on, seemingly eager to interest me or cheer me up in some way. "I possess the gift of tactile telepathy, or being capable of reading someone's thoughts and memories through a single touch." I thought of how he had hugged me, and shuddered to think what he had heard from my mind. I felt as though I should be more shocked or surprised, but I felt that little could shake me now.
"Marcus's gift is relationship identification. He sees the emotional ties between individuals. Alec can deprive you of your senses. He can cut off all the senses of multiple people at the same time." I shuddered and looked over at Alec. He winked. I forced a wavering smile and looked back at Aro.
"Jane, who is Alec's twin sister, and also a high ranking member of the Guard, has the power to inflict illusionary pain on anyone. It's not real, but she makes you think it is."
I shuddered again. Alec and Jane seemed quite a dangerous pair.
Aro continued. "Demetri is a tracker, which means he can find anyone in any place just by feeling the tenor of their minds. Felix has no supernatural abilities, but he is one of the most strongest, if not the strongest, vampires in the world."
I looked over at Demetri and gaped. He smiled and Felix flexed his muscles. I smirked.
"There are also several other members of The Guard that I'm sure you'll meet eventually. The Guard's job is to regulate vampire behavior. We're sort of like the police force of the vampire world. The Volturi make sure no one reveals the existence of vampires to the humans. Any vampire who jeopardizes our collective safety is killed." Demetri went on to explain further.
"Or any human." Caius spoke. He looked at me meaningfully. I looked away.
"There is a lot more that you will eventually learn about us. But for now, I'll just say welcome to the family." Aro smiled, his face delighted and unearthly. "Demetri." he nodded. Demetri sped from out of sight in a blur, causing me to blink in confusion. That was going to take a little getting used to. Just as fast as he disappeared, he reappeared with a simple wooden box in hand. He gave it to Aro.
"Hannah and Chala received one, and now it is your turn." Aro said solemnly, opening the box with exaggerated slowness to reveal a beautiful gold tiara. I gasped. He took the tiara out, and motioned to me to kneel before him. I felt a little ridiculous, but did as he said.
"Isabella Marie Swan, mortal daughter of Charlie Swan and Renee Dwyer, I now crown you Isabella Marie Swan-Volturi of the Volturi Royal, Princess of the Vampire World, and Consort of Prince Demetri Volturi of the Volturi Guard." he announced grandly, setting the tiara atop my hair gently. I felt moisture gather in my eyes. This was the most sad, terrifying, crazy, and wonderful moment of my life.
The rest of the night passed by in a blur. Demetri, Felix, Alec, Chala, and Hannah all seemed to be practically glowing with joy and pride. I was sleeping over at the castle for the first time. Hannah and Chala's separate rooms were across the hall from each other on another wing of the castle, and they were unlike anything I'd ever seen. We all changed into pajamas. I wore Winnie the Pooh, Chala wore Tinkerbell, Hannah and Felix wore matching Superman and Superwoman pajamas, Alec wore Spiderman, and Demetri matched me in Tigger pajamas that made me laugh. We all gathered in the live-in movie theater and settled in to watch Disney movies. The boys were annoyed at our choices but who cares?
As Chala, Hannah, and I danced and sung along to songs from High School Musical and Camp Rock, I couldn't help but think what a crazy, rollercoaster of a day it had been. I was fated to be a vampire one day, was fated to leave my family behind forever one day that was not too far away. I was still full of grief and confusion. But I was also excited and felt loved. Out of all the vampires and human girls in the world, Demetri had chose me, Bella Swan. Aro had chose me. Hannah and Chala had chose me. Felix and Alec had chose me. Life had chose me.