A/N: I promise not to spend too much time in Volterra. I am only doing what I consider necessary to the story.

Chapter 11- Newborn

I looked around the room and saw so much more than I had as a human. The colors were intensified and I could see everything, including the dust floating in the air. Everything was enhanced. I knew there were others in the room with me, but I was completely overwhelmed by everything I was seeing.

Aro finally broke the silence with, "Bella? How do you feel?"

I looked over to him, smiled, and said, "I feel wonderful. I have never seen things like this before. I am somewhat overwhelmed right now."

Aro and the rest of the Volturi looked at me in shock.

"Bella, you should be suffering from extreme thirst, not noticing the change in your perception of the world," Aro said somewhat harshly.

I looked at Aro with confusion for a split second, until I realized that he was referring to the normal newborn's extreme blood lust. I was thirsty, of course. My throat hurt, however it was manageable and I was so much more interested in the changes around me.

I finally responded to Aro with, "I am somewhat thirsty, however it's manageable."

Aro smiled at me and said, "You are truly a wondrous creature, Bella. However it would make me feel better if you hunted before seeing your daughter."

I gasped, nodded, and walked towards them swiftly.

Once I neared the council I said, with complete confidence, "I agree, my daughter is half human after all and I want to see her as soon as possible. I hope you will still respect my wishes as far as hunting choices go. I would prefer to sustain myself on animals. I find the idea of killing humans repugnant."

I looked at Aro apologetically; he laughed and told Jane and Alec to accompany me.

As we left the castle, Alec turned to me and warned me, "Bella, we have to go through the city to get to the forest. You will need to hold your breath. You cannot slip up here in Volterra. It is an immediate death sentence. We will hang on to you, but you need to be careful."

I looked at Alec gravely, nodded, and then extended my hands to both of them. Alec eagerly grabbed my wrist and with a look of utter revulsion, Jane did the same. I tried to focus on Jane's dislike for me as we traveled out of the city to distract me from the humans I was about to encounter. Without breathing, I found resisting the humans around me very easy, as long as I ignored the sound of their blood moving through their bodies. I only tried to escape their grasp twice, and just momentarily when I lost my focus. I could not figure out what Jane held against me. She seemed to despise me completely. My very presence was enough to upset her. I decided that when we got back, I would ask Alec about it.

Once we were far enough away from the city, both of the twins released my hands, Alec smiled and said, "Go to it, Bella."

I grinned at them both and ran off into the forest.

Hunting was instinctual. I allowed my body to take over and do exactly what I needed to. I found that the carnivorous animals were much more appealing to my palate. After my first two kills, I began to get the hang of it and quickly finished up. I lingered for a few minutes, soaking in the outdoors until I heard Alec cautiously approach my location. I whipped around with vampire speed and smiled at him. I was a mess but at the moment, I couldn't bring myself to care.

Jokingly I asked him, "Want to give it a try? It's not that bad."

Alec's face wrinkled up in disgust and he rolled his eyes at me motioning me to follow him back to Volterra.

On the way back, they allowed me to travel without their hold, and I found that it was even easier to resist the people around me. When we got close to the castle, without warning, I took a small breath. The smell was mouthwatering, however, I was able to resist. I smiled to myself and Alec looked at me with a puzzled expression. I smiled again and drew in a deep breath to talk. Alec's eyes were wide and he looked ready to spring at me.

I laughed and said, "They do smell good, don't they?"

With that comment, I skipped back into the ground level entrance to the castle, with a dumbfounded Alec and Jane trailing behind me.

Once we were beyond the prying eyes of humans, I picked up my speed and ran as fast as I could to the main room. By this time, Alec was chasing after me, laughing, and even Jane let out a small giggle. In no time, we were in the main audience room and I was facing the council once again.

Aro asked about my hunting trip, but before I could say a word, Jane and Alec gave a full report. They spoke together, finishing each other's sentences, almost as if they were one person. When they got to the part about me breathing around the human population, Aro, Caius and Marcus tensed until Alec hurried on to explain my silly comment and amazing ability to resist them. Aro's face burst into a huge smile and even Marcus had a slight grin.

Finally, I addressed Aro saying, "Aro, Caius, Marcus: I know that the original intent was to allow me to go through my newborn phase before I started serving the Volturi. However, now I believe that I will not be forced to suffer the typical newborn blood lust. I think I am able to start serving now. Will you consider it?"

My reasons for the request were completely selfish. I wanted out of Volterra as soon as possible. The longer I was here, the more Aro would want me to stay on permanently. I could already feel my enhanced gift around me like a blanket. I knew that Aro found my potential talents extremely appealing, and I did not want to give him any more time than necessary with my new gifts at his disposal. There was something about him, underneath the smiles and refinement, that I did not trust. Aro grabbed the hands of the two other council members and they silently shared their thoughts with Aro.

After a few moments, Marcus spoke up for the first time ever, "Bella, my dear, we will consider your request but we would like to wait a few days to make sure that your amazing ability to resist human blood holds true. Would you agree to that?"

I smiled at them and nodded silently.

Finally, unable to put up with the niceties any longer, I looked at them with pleading eyes and said, "Can I see my baby?"

Aro smiled almost kindly, nodded, and led me out the door without another word.

I walked as fast as I could without stepping on Aro's cloak as I followed him down the hall. Finally, he stopped in front of a door and smiled at me.

"Your daughter, dear Bella, is beautiful and as talented as her mother. She communicates quite effectively already and has been begging to see you. She is also most anxious to find out her name. Have you selected one for her?" Aro asked, curiosity covering his face.

I nodded enthusiastically at Aro and said, "I have, but I would like to tell her first."

Aro smiled down at me and then stepped out of the doorway. As we walked, I considered what Aro had said about my daughter communicating already. This had to mean that she was not going to develop like a normal human baby in many ways. Her brain was going to be more like her father's than the human that I had been. I again marveled at the sheer amount of space I had in my head to reason and figure out things now that I was a vampire.

Hesitantly, I walked inside the room, holding my breath carefully. There, across the room in a nursemaid's arms, was a tiny bundle. The nurse was feeding her out of a metal cup, which was filled with what could only be blood. I carefully took a breath. My daughter's smell was strong, however she smelled like a mix between the best perfume and the most delicious food. I knew I was going to be able to hold her with no problems. The blood in the cup was another matter. It smelled like the pure fresh scent of humans. They were feeding her human blood! I turned towards Aro and looked at him, with the anger evident on my face. Aro looked back at me in confusion. After a split second consideration, I realized that he couldn't have known that human and animal blood smelled so differently, probably having never tasted animal blood in his whole existence.

Finally, I said, "Aro, why are you allowing them to feed my daughter human blood?"

By the end of my question, I was even more upset. This meant that he had tried to trick me and now I was going to have to wean her off the human blood and onto only animal blood.

Aro looked at me in stunned silence for a moment before he regained his composure and said, "Bella, how did you know?"

I looked up angrily and pointed to my nose.

To my shock, Aro laughed quietly and said, "That explains a lot. We will get her on the right diet, however this was easier. No humans died to give your child blood. She is drinking from our blood bank supply."

I relaxed slightly and took a few steps towards my little one. Suddenly, she wanted nothing to do with her food and was moving around in the woman's arms frantically. She then sighed and placed her hand on the woman's neck.

The woman murmured to her, "Ahh, I see sweet one, you want your mother."

The nurse looked up at me with a smile; then she stood and brought my daughter towards me. Just as I was getting ready to take my daughter from her, I looked down and gasped in shock. The little one was the size of a baby at least a month old already. She had a full head of bronze colored curls. The curls came from me, the hair coloring from her father. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown; the same shade that mine had been when I was human. Her facial features were almost all Edward, with a little bit of me thrown in to make them look extremely feminine. I looked down at her in awe. She was the perfect mix of both of us. Then, gingerly I stretched out my arms and the nurse placed her into them gently. My arms fit her perfectly; it was as if I was made to hold her. Slowly, she reached her little pale pink arm towards my neck. When she touched me, it was as if a jolt happened and I suddenly saw Aro carefully pulling her out of my arms and my little one making an effort to find my face. While Aro held her close to me, she then showed me my human face and slowly morphed it into my immortal face. She was telling me that she knew who I was and had been waiting for me. I grinned down at my little girl and took her back into my arms, snuggling her into me slightly. Then she put her hand back on my neck and communicated that she wanted to know what her name was.

I bent down over my daughter and softly said, "Welcome to the world, Renesmee Carlie."

She smiled up at me, showing two rows of perfectly snow white teeth. I laughed and said, "Do you like your name, Renesmee?"

She giggled at me and then put her hand back on my neck. The scenes she was showing me were all ideas of happy. Then she began to relay the last few days of her life back to me through her thoughts.

My next few days were a blur. I spent most of my time with my small daughter. She was changing so quickly. I knew that this was going to happen from what we had learned, but it was still hard to watch as she grew every hour. Finally, after a week, Renesmee started taking her first full meals that contained pure animal blood and I was called to face the council.

I walked into the main room, wondering the reason for their official summons. I was told on the way that this was only done when something extremely important needed to be discussed. When I walked into the room, the whole guard was present along with the wives and their personal bodyguards. The wives were two small figures who were completely enveloped in their large black cloaks. Their movement was so slight and graceful that they seemed to almost float in the air, slightly above the ground. Everyone was wearing his or her official cloaks. I, however, had been in a hurry and neglected to put mine on. I suddenly felt underdressed. Smiling, the three members of the council moved towards me, stopping just short of the center of the room. I walked up to meet them. For a moment, their smiles brightened and then they looked over me to address the crowd.

In perfect unison the three said, "Welcome, Bella, our new sister, the newest protector of Volterra!"

At the end of their speech, they walked up and put a new cloak on my shoulders. My new cloak was a slightly darker shade of gray than even Alec and Jane, who wore the darkest cloaks of all until now. If I had still been human I would have blushed with the sudden recognition and the obvious esteem that Aro, Caius and Marcus felt for me. Then the rest of the guard cheered with slight enthusiasm and the formal part of the ceremony was over. Most of the group congratulated me on my placement, some more enthusiastically than others. The only one who was not happy for me at all was Jane. She took one look at Aro and I and then stormed out of the room.

Aro glided over to me when he saw the concerned look on my face, and said, "Do not fret my dear, Jane's problems are her own and have nothing to do with you. Welcome to the Volturi, dear one. Your training begins tomorrow. You will still have time in the evenings to spend with your little one, but we need to get moving. There is so much to get done and we don't want to waste a moment of it."

With that, Aro glided away to speak to someone else. Training to begin tomorrow? Welcome to the Volturi indeed.

Instead of doing the full story from Edward's perspective, I am now considering doing it from various points of view depending on who I think would tell the story best. I know there will be some unanswered questions when I finish this that Bella just won't know the answers to and I would love to give you insight. Which would you rather? Let me know what you think :)

Review please. I really want to know what you think!