0. . .oO•.o. A Promise Unknowingly Kept .o.•Oo. . .0

Warning: This story will contain mild content, themes, and language which some may find offensive. If you have questions let me know.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owner, Stephenie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of the me - the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: The response to my story means so much to me, thank you; here's Chapter Eight.

Beta Read by TheGirlWhoReadFiction - thank you!

0. . .oO•.o. A Promise Unknowingly Kept .o.•Oo. . .0

CHAPTER 8 - Newest Editions

•~Annabelle Cullen~•

- 10 years later (Tuscany, Italy, 1807) –

It has been ten interesting years since I came to Volterra; that long since I was offered to be a member of their family, which I accepted rather quickly. Since then, they all came to a forthcoming decision a year after I arrived and agreed to become 'vegetarian' vampires along with me. I managed to become close with everyone in the coven, as did everyone with me. They all had a strange reaction to my past when I finally spoke of it, especially whenever I mentioned my original family, but I just brushed it off, as it was most likely that I was being irrational. My role among them was leader of enforcing the laws of vampires, so they only came to me for big jobs.

It was now that word got to me that the plague had reached Norway and they were affected badly by it. All I could think about was whether Katerina and the twins were alright, praying that it had not yet claimed them too. The disease had already claimed countless victims across the country and it made me worry as we, Katerina, the twins and I, consider ourselves family. At that moment, I was pulled from my negative thoughts.

"Whatever could be troubling you, my dear Annie?" Aro asked. Everyone called me 'Annie' now because my full name sounded way too formal for my liking, as we are all close friends. My frown caused a concerned look to appear on his face.

"I've just received some news that the plague has just reached Norway near where my friends are," I said solemnly. There is probably nothing I can do about it either.

"My dear child, you must go at once and save them, otherwise you will regret it for eternity," I looked up sharply at Aro's now-golden orbs in slight shock.

"R-r-really? I...I can go?" I couldn't believe it. Even more so, I had turned into a stuttering vampire.

"Yes, of course you can, Annie. Not that I could even stop you, and that I would never even think of doing so, either. Just make sure you have plenty of money with you and that you check back in person within the next one hundred years." He said, and with that, I kissed both of his cheeks and took off to retrieve my money and head back to Norway.

- 1 day later (Mandel, Norway, 1807) –

I raced to my dear friend's home and bolted through the door to be hit with an awful ill-smell, coming strongest from upstairs. The whole house was cold because the fireplace, I noticed, was not lit. Rushing upstairs to Katerina's bedroom, I was met with her looking like she was at death's door. Instantly I knew nothing that I did could save her – she was too weak to survive the change. That's was hurt the most...feeling completely powerless.

"Oh Katerina..." I sobbed, kneeling down by her side.

"Izzy...you're here...still looking as young as ever," she tried to force her face into smile. I bowed my head to hide the pain in my face from hearing how weak she sounded. "I know what you are, Izzy..." My head snapped up at that. Seeing my questioning look, she explained, "I have a crazy thing of knowing answers to everything I come to question..." A croaky laugh escaped her lips. I shook my head; trust her to crack a joke on her death bed. "But I know that you are good too. Please, Izzy, save my children; they don't deserve to die so young. Do everything in your power to make sure that they survive...for me," With her plea I nodded my head and accepted her final wish. I stayed with her for the remaining thirteen minutes of her life before she peacefully left this world. At her last, words I bit back a sob a she told me: "Take care of my sun and moon."

That is what she would often call her beloved twins. Arla was her sun and Niklas was her moon. I kissed her forehead and placed her bible in her hands, "Go where I can never go," I told her, "I will take care of the twins for you, I promise."

I got up from the floor and collected some family heirlooms laying around the place for her children to cherish and feel close to her when they enter their immortal life, and then moved swiftly to their bedroom. They were stronger than Katerina had been and they would survive the transformation.

I went to Niklas first and bit him on his neck and both of his wrists. I repeated the same process with Arla straight after her brother and then I gently lifted them both from their beds, putting them over my shoulders to carry them easily. With them, I then ran to my previous home located in a forest fifty miles from civilization.

Heading straight for one of the spare large guest bedrooms, I placed them on the large central bed next to each other, trying to make them as comfortable as possible. For three days I rarely removed myself from their presence...only to hunt, though, as it had been a long while. They seemed to have managed the pain really well, considering. The only signs of the pain being present for were from their low, uncomfortable groans.

Though, throughout the whole transformation they were both holding on to each other's hands as some form of comfort – it was rather cute to witness. Niklas was the first to awaken after their hearts beat for the final time. I guess the oldest was the first to do everything around here. He darted his eyes around the room but stopped when they landed on me, and before I had the chance to move, he had jumped up into my arms almost too enthusiastically. It was good to see that he still remembered me. I let slip a chuckle at the strength he was using with me.

"Oh Izzy, I missed you so much," Niklas almost yelled. That level of volume caused Arla to awaken though too. She all too quickly joined the group hug with a squeal, nearly killing me in the process of it. I hugged them back but not with nearly as much strength.

As they pulled back, Arla asked me the question that I had been preparing myself for: "Izzy, where's momma?" Niklas looked at me with the same questioning eyes.

My eyes turned sad, "I'm sorry...Katerina...she passed away a few days ago due to the plague illness. I honoured her final wish to get you two to safety..." It was so hard to tell them this.

Niklas put a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay, Izzy," he reassured me. "Momma always said to us as we were growing up: 'There will be a time in the future that someone you know will come and save you from a dark time, but you will need to be brave and leave me behind as I will need to leave to a place more peaceful than here...'" he gave a sad smile. "We understand what she meant now."Arla joined Niklas in placing her hand on my other shoulder. I nodded and gave a small smile in return.

It was at that moment when I remembered something, "I...erm...went back to your home after you were here safely and collected some more family heirlooms of yours, besides the ones I already got, for you to remember Katerina and your lives here. It's things like jewellery and quite a few pieces of artwork – portraits and landscapes – that I could find, along with some of your best clothing attire..." They both smiled at me and thanked me for being thoughtful in retrieving their family treasures for them.

They both turned to look at each other when they noticed a big difference between themselves, "Erm...Izzy? What's with our freaky but awesomely cool red eyes?" They both asked in sync. And that is how I begun to tell them about being a vampire. I told them all about my human life and my journey to where I was today, but only mentioned that the Volturi were like our royalty – not anything about my life with them, as it was too risky for them to know yet...plus I didn't want them suddenly acting strange around me because of it.

They took it all amazingly well, which was the best that I could've hoped for. Apparently they too suspected that I was something more than human as Katerina let them in on some of her suspicions about me. I was rather pleased when the first thing that they complained about after my story was the need to kill humans to survive. That was partly my fault as I had accidently neglected telling them how I was a 'veggie' vampire.

Like me, the twins didn't need long to gain enough self-control for them to be allowed around humans again – even if they didn't though, I wouldn't have let them hurt anyone with my shield being able to restrain them. After only six months, to their glee, their eyes had changed colour from the blood red to golden orbs like mine. We made our cover story so that we were half-siblings with different fathers – which was close to the truth, as Katerina did like to take care of me as best as she could, like a mother would. To make it more believable to the public, they asked me if they could become a 'Cullen' officially by taking the name as their own in honour of me saving them.

They were now known as Arla and Niklas Freawine-Cullen.

A/N:

What did you like about this chapter?

Was a bit obvious that the twins would become vampires the second I mention them.

How many more vampires should join her coven? What about their names? Let me know.

Comments to Reviews for Chapter Seven:

- pugswanthugs - I admire people's curiosity as it gives me a reason to put across my ideas for my readers. For this story I'm thinking of creating a family coven for Annabelle as she has lived alone for so long when she had lost her whole family in a horrible way when she was just a child - she deserves the love of a family. It will be a while though before she is reunited with her father though as I don't want to rush it too much.

- harryginny9 - Thank you, it's good to know.