Chapter One

Assignment

I was wandering around Volterra, my city, as I have so very, very, many times. I had lived here ever sense I was a newborn. I knew every street, every building, every corner. It was my duty as a Volturi guard to make sure every street, building, and corner was the way it must be.

All was. Sigh.

I had been here for a long 96 years. That would be since 1913, that dreadful year…

I tried not to think of 1913, instead I stopped to watch varies crowds of humans walk by.

Some would laugh; others talk; while still some just took pictures as they walked. Children played and ran around while their mothers constantly called them closer. Women talked on and on as men playfully punched knuckles and shoulders.

There were two humans in particular who caught my attention. They were a male and a female. They both wore cheap dirty clothing and looked exhausted, but despite this they looked exceptionally happy. They walked down the street holding hands, gradually getting closer, until they were so close that they locked lips and just stood there that way.

I just stared. I had seen humans and vampires kiss many times before, but they were so happy together, despite what life had done to them. I couldn't look away. I envied them both for having each other, a soul mate, their own personal other half…

My thoughts were interrupted as a short black haired girl with a black cloak almost identical to mine stepped in front of me.

"Bella?" she asked.

"Yes Jane, what is it?" I replied back in a calm but dual voice. Jane was my best and only friend.

"Aro has need of you." She replied in a slightly more curious tone, and with that we headed back through the storm gate, and then went through the lobby to the throne room.

Aro was pacing around the nearly empty room, which was incredibly uncharacteristic for him. Normally he was very calm and didn't like to move around a lot unnecessarily.

He met us by the door.

"Hello, Bella, Jane," he said to us, "Thank you for the retrieval, Jane. You may go now." Jane bowed her head and left. Now that I was here, I was the smallest bit curious about why I was.

Aro was my master, one of the three main leaders of the Volturi Coven, which is the large group of vampires that live here in Volterra. They say that they all had equal power, but I was obvious that Aro was really the one real leader of us all. The Volturi also includes a guard. Our main job as the Volturi guard was to work for and protect the three leaders and the mates of the ones that had one.

Most of us had a gift, like me. My gift was that I was a mental shield and mental sponge, or that's what we prefer to call me. I meant that I was unaffected by gifts that effected your mind, that is the shield part. The sponge part was that I could absorb any mental gift from anyone I meet. I don't really take it, I more or less copy it. My gift was Aro's prized possession. The fact was a bit uncomfortable at first but I eventually got used to it.

I waited for someone else to come. Surly he called more than simple me. There isn't much he could talk to me about that didn't involve others.

"Well, I suppose you are wondering why I called you," his voice startled me. I had to check to make sure there wasn't anyone in the room, even I already knew very well there wasn't. So why was he talking to me alone? What did he want to talk to me about that didn't involve the rest of the guard?

"Have I done something wrong?" I asked nervously.

Aro chucked and smiled at me. Never tense, always smiling and laughing things off. Typical Aro. "No, you have done no such thing. You are here for another purpose."

"And that purpose is…?"

He hesitated and put the tips of his fingers together before answering. "I assume you remember my old friend Carlisle. Well… he has enlarged his coven, and one of them is a rather gifted male named Edward. I have asked him before if he would like to join us, but I simply cannot make him see sense. What you are to do is find a way to… push him the right direction."

He wanted me to force another of our kind against his will? That was a very cruel way of building a coven. True, his declining a position on the guard makes little sense. But was this really necessary? Why must I do it? Actually, that was a good question.

"Wouldn't one of the more experienced members be a better choice? Or a group of more than one? Why must I do it alone?" I questioned.

He sighed before answering. "Edward's gift is mind reading, so I would assume he would be unable to use it on you. And it would simply be an imposable mission if he knew of it."

So I would be doing this behind his back too. Great. But, as usual, I didn't have a choice. Sigh.

"So when do I start?"

Well that's chapter one! Please review and tell me what you think of it!