I don't mutilate Twilight. Stephanie Meyer does that well enough on her own.

"Hello" - speaking

"Hello" - thinking

(No editing needed here... This one is supposed to be short.)

Chapter 4:

Interlude: A Misunderstanding

1900 years after Didyme's death - the 1700's

Carlisle had heard about the Volturi of course, the ruling class of vampires, but he would have never thought that so many of the rumors were true.

Their power was immense: the amount and variety of gifted vampires, shocking. He stayed with the Volturi for close to 100 years and became very close friends with Aro and, at the very least, amiable acquaintances with Caius. But Marcus; even for all those years he never heard him speak more than a few sentences at a time, and that rarely.

It wasn't until he realized that soon he should be moving on that he became at all curious about Marcus. It wasn't until he spoke about it with a new recruit, he believed his name was Felix, that he learned of the cruelty done to Marcus.

"Apparently," he said, "Marcus' mate, Didyme, wanted to take Marcus away from Volterra to live a more peaceful life; just the two of them. (1) When Aro discovered this he gathered all the Volturi members, and demonstrated what happens when someone tries to break apart the Volturi brothers."

He paused here, shrugged, and then continued, "Didyme begged Marcus to leave with her, and Marcus was helpless to do anything but watch as his brother ripped apart and burned his mate in front of his very eyes.(2) It is said that on that day Marcus gave up on any kind of a future that would have happiness in it, despairing that he would ever be whole again."

"Is that really what happened Felix?" asked Carlisle. 'I cannot believe that Aro, and even Caius could ever be that cruel to their brother.'

"You can ask the boss men about it yourself - just don't ask in front of Marcus. Last time someone mentioned her name in front of him, I swear he looked a little more dead…kind of guilty looking too now that I think on it, but then again, I could have just imagined it. He usually looks the same, you know, bored with our un-life."

At first Carlisle refused to believe his friend could commit such an atrocity, but eventually his curiosity got the better of him. He made sure to wait until he was alone with Aro and Caius to ask about Didyme though. At the mention of her name their eyes became as cold as ice, anger taking over their features.

"If you ask me than woman was waste of vampire life, she should have been kept alive and tortured 'till the end of time; in order to show others the futility of trying to destroy the Volturi in such a way."

"I must agree with you there, Caius. Her relatively quick death was far too merciful for one such as her." Aro replied.

That the man Carlisle had been coming to see as a brother of sorts would say such a thing was truly shocking to him. That Aro's seemingly honest and family oriented character could hide such ruthlessness and blood thirst horrified him. However, he carefully masked his feelings as he listened to Aro and Caius trade ideas for the torture that should have been inflicted on the poor woman.(3). It was only a few minutes later that he excused himself, not being able to stand listening to such things anymore.

Carlisle left Volterra within a week of that fateful misunderstanding.

(1) Remember the rather desperate rambling she inflicted on our poor ears? Well this is what many of the others in the room saw it as.

(2) Also remember that not many people noticed that he left after the first scream.

(3) Once again, understand that this is the heart of the misunderstanding and that Carlisle doesn't know the real story, so his reaction at this point is quite understandable, considering.

Author's Note

First: Here you go - that chapter from Carlisle's point of veiw that I was promising you.

Second: I should have another chapter out soon.

Third: Celebrate! In said chapter we will finally get to Bella! A warning, she might be a bit out of character though. I always felt a bit insulted by her reaction to Edward's leaving in New Moon. ( *scowl* How DARE Meyer insult my image of her by making her react like that!) Sooo...I'm fixing it. *smirk*

Last: Review! Pleaseeeeeee? *ultimate puppy-dog-eyes attack* with sugar, and gumdrops, and chocolate, and any other sweet you can think of AND cherries on top! (you only get that good stuff if you review though ya know)

- Aljan Moonfire -