Aurora

Disclaimer: Not mine. Sorry. I'm just playing with 'em.

Summary: During Carlisle Cullen's stay at Volterra, he learns there are other creatures that go bump in the night...

Author's Note: Hope y'all like it!

Chapter 5

I had not witnessed Caterina in any of the halls since I had escorted her back to her room nearly a fortnight ago. My questions as to her whereabouts were proving to be fruitless. The vast majority of the others would shake their shoulders in confusion but state that Caterina was often here one moment and gone the next, as if she were more spirit than vampire. None of the others seemed to even care that she had intervened regarding the werewolf. All anyone did wish to know is about how I fared during my adventure with the immortal child and the child of the moon.

For no concern to be given to woman I knew as Caterina or the child Lettice, but for all the concern to be thrown towards me was disconcerting. The Great Chain of Being was, once again, being uprooted and I, though I were a man, was seen in the eyes of the others of my kind as weaker than a woman.

It were not that I did not think of Caterina as strong, for indeed she was. But she was smaller than I, and she seemed so much gentler until I saw her nearly fly betwixt myself and the noble looking beast. I was taller, I was stronger, I was a man...and yet, for all that, it meant nothing to the red eyes I saw about me. Mayhaps it was due to their misguided beliefs in regards to my diet? I know not.

What truly concerned me more was the lack of care shown towards the child. I had heard Aro and Caius' discussion regarding her and the boy, Aylwin, both that night on which we had come back to the castle, and since that time. The child was but an object, a curiosity to the others. And now that the curiosity had proven disobedient, they wished to destroy them, like a pair of worn amusements. No one seemed to care that they were thinking creatures that did, clearly, have a will of their own. When I but spake of this to Aro he stated that this was the problem!

What kind of matters could these children have given in the past to cause such grievance against them? I saw not but sport from the girl and a bit more of a unruly child; though I thought little of it. It did not look to be more than I would expect for any other child though she be a good bit stronger than a human child. It was a trivial issue when one considers that another being's existence is at stake over the fact she did run.

There must be some other issue to hazard the well being of both children given one instant of disobedience that was simply corrected. Gaining this new insight, I divulged myself into the annuals that lay about in Aro's library. I did hope to learn as much as I could from the documents before me. I was glad to have free use of the library per Aro's instructions. What ever the true issue be with regards to the children, mayhaps I would find it here.

The library was of such estate I felt small within it. The room itself was larger than what my father's church had been. The walls were covered with shelves filled with scrolls and books of all shapes, ages, and sizes. I knew not where to begin.

I walked over to the ladder that leaned against one of the shelves. I was unaware of any arrangement that Aro had in place and thought it best to start where he had last left. Perchance he did mention the incident with Lettice in the latest of the annals and did just place it back upon the shelf. If so, then the ladder was were he last placed a book, or so I did hope.

I climbed up nimbly and looked at the red leather bound journal I found there. I saw nothing on the cover to which it may divulge it's contents, so I glanced at the first page to find the book was a good bit older than myself. I quickly placed it down and looked of where else to start. Glancing about the room, I saw that, upon Aro's desk, there was a journal that lay open. Without a thought, I went over to it and peaked at it's contents. Upon the page, were words of Latin: Immortalis puer et puella delenda sunt. The immortal boy and girl must be obliterated.

By the time I found myself able to think again, I saw the journal in my hands and could hardly pull my eyes away from the simple script. What could cause anyone to wish to destroy children completely? Quickly, I set to my task. I looked in the pages previous to it for any indication that the children could even possibly deserve such a fate. I noticed that the entire journal seemed to be of the immortal children and turned to the first page. The journal was old, far more ancient that I believed when I first laid eyes upon it, but sturdy despite that.

I sat there for hours, reading through the horrors and atrocities that were attributed to the children. Not just the two that lived within the castle walls, but the many that came before them. According to the journal, a stop was put to the practice of creating our kind out of children sometime in the 1100's. It was forbidden to do so and punishable by incineration, death. As I read over only a few of the terrors that the children had created prior to the law, I could barely believe that such monstrances was possible even for my kind.

From what I studied, one child had destroyed an entire village because the woodsman refused to give the child a toy he had been carving. Instead of just going after the woodsman, he chased him through the village in sport and publicly executed him brutally. When he saw that others had seen him, he chased them down and killed them all as well. When asked why he did such a thing, he told that he did not wish to get in trouble again with his creator and so he killed all those that had seen him. The child did not comprehend why the destruction of the village was unforgivable.

Another child caught two hunter's dressing a deer in the woods. He smelled the blood of the deer and wondered if it were possible to dress human as such and have the blood so freely flow into his mouth more quickly. Thirty men were brutally killed before the child could be stopped. He did not even bother to hide the bodies but hung them upside down from the trees, throats slit, as he had seen the deer.

The girls, according to the journal, were no better. One child killed anyone who dared to tell her no. This included a seamstress, a few nurses, and most of one section of the city she did live in at the time. When she attacked and bit her own creator, she said she did it to scar him so he might remember not to tell her no again. Fifty humans died for saying no to her and she even had taken out two vampires. Her physical age was only four.

As I read through these accounts and many more, I realized the fear behind the immortal children. They were destructive and they risked exposing us. Even Lettice and her brother, who were considered the most gentle of the children, were no better. Aylwin, her brother according to the accounts, had torn a man limb from limb in front of his own children because the man had yelled at one of them. The Volturi were forced to kill the entire family because of the risk of our secret getting out. The most important rule with our kind, above all else, was to hide our true selves from all those about us and to not let the humans know of our presence as vampires. As long as our kind was little more than legend and humans continued to desecrate graves and kill their own in the hunt for creatures such as us, all was well with our kind. Humans were to not know of our the signs that marked us. The children threatened that rule. And after reading what I had, I did have trouble justifying their existence for much longer.

I walked into Dr. Gagliardo's home that afternoon. Being away from the nightmares I had just read and going about my daily activities helped to nullify the questions and worry I had within my mind. I'd much rather not think of the immortal children give my new found knowledge. There was no justice that could be administered for the children did not understand their crimes and could not comprehend why their brutality was wicked. Adults had such understanding.

I knocked on the old wooden door, gaining entrance into the small but comfortable city home. Dr. Gagliardo's oldest daughter was there to greet me. I smiled, she was but a girl of fifteen and had become infatuated with me, a man who was claiming to be six and twenty. It was a harmless but of folly but it was not one I could make return on; she was but a child in my eyes. "Good evening, Sabina," I told her in Italian as she came to take my coat from me.

Her olive toned fingers gently grasped the wool neck of my overcoat and clutched it tight. As soon as the coat was well in her possession, she nervously took two steps back, the long wool coat in her hands. I smiled. The humans were brought in by our very beauty but also feared us just the same. I could see the battle between what was her natural fear and what was her natural want though she knew it not. I waited for a few seconds, enough time for a human response, to begin speaking again. "Should you not place the coat upon a peg?" I gently reminded her, with a bit of teasing to my voice.

"Oh, yes!" Sabina stammered as she whisked away to a wardrobe halfway down the small hallway. I heard a few giggles and looked behind me to a door half opened to see two more pairs of curious eyes. I recognized them as Dr. Gagliardo's two other daughters, Lavinia and Bianca. Lavinia was of nine years and Bianca was of barely three. I winked at the both of them and then retook my stance in the hallway. I would not out their hidden position to their older sister.

Sabina quickly came back, her petticoats rustling against the wooden floor. I smiled at her haste. This folly that has caused her to believe her love for me would no doubt end soon. I could easily deal with such stammering and shyness in my presence for a year if it did bother to last that long. She would find some other boy, soon enough, to beg her father to introduce her to. And all the giggling and watching would no longer include myself. Such a simple thing as that of the love that was so clearly present within this family was not something I had thought I could be apart of ever again.

However when Caterina and even all the Volturi easily used the word sister to describe our relationship... Sister, sibling, family. A part of me was rejoiced that I could have those familial relationships. To have something so simple, so human, as a sibling did make me think that maybe, some day, I could have other familial relationships. Although I would never turn a child, especially after what I had learned of them anon, maybe someone on the brink of adulthood? Of course, who would I change? It was not as if one simply goes up to another and asks them if they wish to become a monster. With Fortune and Time at my side, I would not have to make such decisions for many a year if ever.

Sabina tried to look alluring as she motioned for me to follow her to her father's office. "This way, if you would," she said, a slight blush upon her cheeks. Her harmless flirting was really quite adorable. I followed her and quietly motioned for the two younger ones to come if they wished. Bianca, the youngest, easily bounded over and took my hand without much hesitation. I looked down at the dishelved plaits of the young girl and smiled. "Greetings, Bianca," I said to her. She smiled up at me. I had learned that she was still of an age where she did not speak much beyond her immediate family.

Sabina turned to us and scowled at her sister Lavinia. I believe I saw Lavinia return the glare by sticking out her tongue at her elder sister. I pretended not to notice.

Stopping outside her father's door, Sabina motioned for me to go in. Bianca would not let go of my hand and simply came in with me. Sabina rolled her eyes in response to that. She knew she could not argue with a three year old or try to explain such things to her. Suddenly, my mind understood so much more about the immortal children. They were still children. Their minds did not have the facilities to comprehend and think through their emotions. Bianca had no notice of anything other than she wanted to go with me to see her father, that she did admire me and adore her father. She did not have the ability to look at anything beyond that. She was oblivious to her sister's wants and would not even comprehend them if she could recognize them. The immortal children were frozen, unable to grow in more ways than simply the physical. They could not live any life for they did not understand the world around them and never could.

I mentally shook such thoughts from my head and gently picked up Bianca to place her in a large chair near her father's desk. Dr. Gagliardo looked up and smiled slightly at the sight before him. Three of his children and myself crowded into his office. "I see that you have made it to my office with help this evening," the Doctor mused, tapping his quill against the inkwell lightly.

"Indeed, I could not have asked for a better group to help me find you at your office," I informed him. Lavinia smiled as well as Bianca. Poor Sabina crossed her arms and looked at her sister's angrily. She was not pleased that her plans had gone arry.

Dr. Gagliardo finished writing a note to the apothecary for supplies and handed it to Lavinia. "Take this to your brother and have him go to the apothecary anon. I do not wish him to tarry upon this night, alright?" he asked gently kissing his daughter on the head as she gripped the piece of paper in her hand. Lavinia nodded in response and ran straight out of the room.

Walking around me, Dr. Gagliardo went to pick up his youngest daughter who already eagerly had her arms opened to clutch him. He kissed her gently on the cheeked before turning to Sabina who was still pouting in the doorway. "Sabina? Take Bianca back upstairs. Carlisle and I have need to get to the Signoretti residence this evening," he told her. Bianca hugged her father tighter not wishing to leave his arms only to go to her sister.

Sabina sighed and took her little sister. "You will be gone til near morning?" she asked. I began to wonder what would was going on at the Signoretti residence. I knew they were a bit of a prominent family in the city, that they had lived here for generations, but little more than that did I know. Had all taken ill?

Dr. Gagliardo nodded solemnly. "I shall see you before you break fast in the morning," he told her. He kissed both his daughters on the head. "Go," he told them and Sabina easily carried Bianca on her hip down the hall. Once they were out of sight, the doctor grabbed his medical bag and glanced at me. "I am unsure of what has taken over the Signoretti household but two days ago I treated a maid for what I thought be nothing more than a blister. She had admitted to burning that spot earlier," he said sadly as he also went to pick up a large leather hood.

"However, the blisters spread," he told me. I instantly knew what it was and, for once, was very glad to be a vampire. I could now see the beak of the medical hood, meant to protect against any contagious illness. Smallpox had hit Volterra.

"How many have it?" I asked before he could continue. He looked into my eyes as he handed me my own hood. I would not need it but not wearing it would give far too much away.

"Four so far," he told me with such sadness and fear in his voice. I could see why he would be frightened; his children. Like any other good parent, he feared more for the lives of his daughters and sons than he did for his own.

"Then we should go before it gets much worse," I told him. He only nodded and we left to go to the Signoretti residence. My fears of the immortal children and what they could mean forgotten momentarily.



Author's note: Sorry this one is rather short! I just really wanted to get Carlisle's thoughts down on the immortal children and why he seemed so curious about them but rather repulsed by them in the books.