Breakdown

"No, stop! Please!" She cried out. Aro closed his eyes and came to his senses. The lust he'd endured had been stronger than any he'd sensed before. It was remarkable. He couldn't believe how wonderful she smelt. She might as well have had blood pouring everywhere, the scent was so strong.

Bambi gasped and cried, and sunk to the floor. She was terrified, but didn't run for fear of being found by another vampire. She knew that no matter where she went, she'd always be in danger. Besides, she was shocked. Her brain wasn't functioning just yet.

She buried her head in her arms and sobbed. Aro looked down at her and bent his knees until he was level with her.

"I am... truly sorry, my dear. I will strive to control myself in future."

He gently placed his hand on her arm, and read her mind. She wanted to be left alone. He could see how much distress she was in. He knew the truth about why she was in Italy and the little details she had missed out. Of course he knew. But he also understood why she had kept those details to herself. Even a soulless monster like him could understand that some things are difficult to say out loud.

He also knew that she didn't blame him for it. He was glad of that. He did not usually care what others thought of him, but it was comforting to hear that the interesting girl he'd spent the afternoon with did not hate him. And to him she was truly fascinating.

He stood up gracefully and promptly left her to her thoughts.

She looked up as he left. Her crying increased until she nearly screamed. What had happened to her life? The things at home were more fucked up than here – which seems hard to believe – but that little episode had freaked her out a lot.

She thought deeply for a while. She thought about Aro's near attack and why she smelt so good. She could tell he was very alarmed at his momentary loss of control. She wanted to know why. Hadn't he experienced this before?

And she thought about her mother at home. She thought about how much she loved her but at the same time how much she hated her. Her mother was showing early signs of breast cancer, and after seeing Bambi's father die of cancer, she always tried to forget she had it by 'getting together' with lots of men. She'd completely forgotten about her daughter. Bambi could take care of herself, of course, but the only time she saw her mother in the day was for a couple of hours after school, where she'd be dressed in nothing but underwear and a tank top. Then she'd go back to the bedroom to 'forget.'

Comparing that to the Volturi, she knew which was worse. At least there was someone to talk to here; Even if he had tried to kill her.

She thought about that for a while, then stood up slowly and managed to find her way back to her bedroom. She was sure that Aro would see how she was doing later. She was almost certain that he'd been embarrassed by that episode and he would come to apologise. She wasn't psychic but she could read people very well. She knew that he was a gentleman, from his behaviour and the way he acted around his peers. She guessed that something darker was bubbling under the surface... which she could also tell from his behaviour this afternoon.

And yet she felt as though he were her only friend in the world. Her old friends stopped hanging out with her since she became a 'freak.' She knew she couldn't dismiss him, no matter what he did. Not for now anyway. She had to grab on to any friendship she could, even if she would be in danger. She'd been completely vulnerable ever since the attack when she was 16. Before that she'd been bubbly and trusting. Now, she was a mere shell of what she'd once been, and for 2 years she'd longed to be the person she once was.

Maybe Aro could help her with that. He'd been so kind and interested in her life. Since everyone had stopped talking to her at home, she was quite shocked to find friendship after so long; especially as she'd found it in an ancient and supposedly evil vampire.

She shook her head and snapped out of her thoughts. She shouldn't think about it now. She needed to clear her head and try to face him again. Maybe he was sorry.

She rushed into the ensuite to take a shower. Afterwards she towel-dried her hair and looked again in the wardrobe at the elegant dresses that she was sure would NOT suit her. That black dress had to be a one-off.

"Oh well." She sighed, and dived into the collection, trying to find something near casual. She found a red dress which kind of reminded her of the dress out of the Kellogg's adverts, only shorter and made of silk. She tried it on.

"Huh." She said thoughtfully, standing in front of the mirror."Maybe it wasn't a one-off." She said, smiling to herself. It was unusual for her to see herself as attractive. She was starting to like it.

She waited on her bed for half an hour, expecting that Aro would come and see how she was. But he never came.

She stood up and opened the door, peering along the corridors. Nobody. Maybe she could find him.

She closed the door behind her and cringed as she heard the tapping of heels approaching from around the corner.

'Heidi?' She thought. But another figure appeared from around the corner.

A young tall woman with long curly brunette hair wearing a blue dress came into view, and when she spotted the human standing nervously, she looked at her with questioning eyes.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Bambi looked down at her feet. "I was just going f-for a walk. It got a little lonely in my room."

"And you think we're here to offer friendship?" She asked, but in a joking way. She didn't seem as cruel as the others. She smiled at the trembling human and walked towards her, holding out a hand. "I'm Renata."

Bambi looked up at her, and shook her hand. "I-I'm guessing you already know my name." She said, with a small smile.

Renata giggled. "Yes. I must say, you made quite an impression on Master Aro. He seemed incredibly interested in you." Then she looked a little guilty. "I'm sorry for the glare I gave you in the hall. I have to keep up appearances. I'm not as... harsh, shall we say, as the rest of the guard."

Bambi was the one to look questioningly now. "Why not?"

"Well, I shouldn't really be telling you this, but... I'm against the pitiless manner in which we live. I was changed and brought into a coven who murder innocent people for their sustenance. I have no choice because it was what I fed on as a newborn vampire, so I became addicted. If the members of the guard found out about my true feelings towards the Volturi, I would be shunned and maybe even killed."

The human blinked. "Wow. So... not all of you are evil." Then she sighed. "I'm glad there's someone on my side. I'm sure everyone else must hate me. Especially Jane – she didn't speak to me very nicely earlier."

Renata rolled her eyes. "She's the worst of the guard – she has the biggest temper. She was changed a brat, and she's always been a brat. But don't worry. I'm definitely on your side."

She smiled. "Thank you."

Renata smiled too. "But enough about me for now. You must be feeling awful, are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm actually feeling okay. Did you hear of what happened this afternoon?"

"Yes, Aro has been in his study for a while now. He is probably thinking of a way to approach you – he does not like to be embarrassed by his thirst."

"Yeah, I guess he does care about his manner. I don't know why he was so nice to me though, I would have expected the leader of a ruthless coven to be... well, evil."

She was gently pulled along the corridor as Renata took her arm and walked with her.

"I'm not 100% sure of that... he is well known to be courteous but I've never seen him with this much politeness about him."

"Hmm..." Bambi thought for a moment. Then she came back to reality. "Does anyone else know about you?"

"Only Master Aro. If I couldn't confide in him, I'd probably be dead by now. He takes the stress off my life and I don't have to pretend around him."

Bambi looked surprised. Of all the people she could confide in, she chose the highest and most feared member of, what is in effect, royalty. Then she remembered. His power... "I remember now, he can read thoughts."

She nodded. "Yes. And it is very useful to us. The thoughts of vampires pasts can reveal more than they had wished to share, and can become their downfall. Master loves knowledge and has developed quite a skill for interrogating as well, and while it isn't really needed, he uses it in his torture games."

She looked at Bambi's shocked expression. 'So he can read past thoughts. Wait, does that mean he already knew...' "Can you explain exactly what he can do?" She asked, not wanting to be kept in the dark.

"He can absorb and read all thoughts a person has ever had through skin to skin contact." She caught her shocked reaction and smiled gently. "He has learnt to conceal most details to himself so we are not extremely embarrassed, but it is a great tool against enemies."

"So... I was part of some sort of torture game?" She asked harshly, a tear forming in her right eye.

"No! No, you weren't – like I said before, he loves knowledge, and if he finds anything interesting he relishes in it."

"But he didn't have to question me! He dragged out so many hidden memories that I thought were stored to the back of my mind, thoughts that I never wanted to think again. And he had the nerve to make me go through the pain, just so his curiosity was fed!" She ran from Renata and tried to remember the way to Aro's study, which he has shown her earlier. When she got to the large oak door, she knocked roughly on the door, and after hearing a calm voice call out "enter" from the other side, she opened it.

Aro saw a tearful and very distressed Bambi enter the room, with a look of both anger and fear on her face.

"Why did you make me tell you about what happened to me?" She said, crying a little harder but not standing down.

Aro looked a little concerned and said, "I am sorry, cara mia." He was lying of course. He had enjoyed his interrogation. It always gave him such satisfaction.

"You made me remember everything that I went through. All of those horrible things that I tried to block out. You already knew, didn't you? You just wanted to hear me say it? Witness as I fell apart all over again? Put me through some kind of sick torture?"

"I can assure you, that is not the case. Your thoughts were not clear, as they had been repressed. I merely wanted to understand everything about you."

She shook her head. "I don't believe you. You know about my horrendous experience, and you've experienced it now as well. Tell me, if you were me, how would you feel?"

Suddenly his expression went dark. "I know one thing for certain, and it is that you should lower your voice and think carefully about what you say, unless you want somebody to hear you and cause an... accident."

Her voice went meek and she was reduced to her quiet self, but the tears still fell down her cheeks. She felt so much pain and anger welling up inside of her that she thought she'd explode... but her fear drowned them and took over her form as she stood there, trembling. She knew that with one word, he would hurt or possibly kill her.

"There. That's better now, isn't it?" He stood from his desk and walked slowly towards her, placing his hands on her arms. She took this moment to think 'Whatever you do, don't blame Renata. It's not her fault. I had the outburst. All she did was tell the truth. Blame me.' He looked down at her tearful eyes, with only a small glimpse of anger left. He could feel her emotions whirling inside of her head and felt a small occurrence inside of him that felt like sympathy, that he quickly brushed aside.

Then, without thinking, he pulled her into a small embrace as she stained his suit with fresh tears. She didn't care any more if he'd made her cry. It wasn't his fault she'd been raped...

Renata stood at the door and bowed her head when he caught her eye. Bambi looked at her and smiled softly, walking past her towards her room. Renata smiled back, then turned to her master after she left.

"I'm sorry, master."

He waved his hand. "It is alright, my dear. I understand the reasons for her outburst. I expected one to arrive soon."

She nodded. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you." He said politely, as she turned and left the room.

Aro went to sit back in his chair, and he pondered for a while. He'd felt sympathy for the first time in years, and it was quite surprising. But then he deciphered, this was the longest he'd spent with a human without killing them or having them taken off his hands. Her qualities ignited a feeling in him he'd kept locked away for years. And it felt... different.