I'm so glad to see that people seem to be liking this! I plan on trying to get a chapter posted every other day, but I'm sure I'll miss a day every once and awhile, since I go to school and work. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't be afraid to leave a review!

chapter three - gifted

"Just relax," Samuel said. "You're too tense. There's nothing to be worried about."

"They're not going to do anything," Jesse assured me. "They just want to meet you. It's customary. Especially since Samuel was the one who turned you."

I raised a brow slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Samuel chuckled. "The Volturi are convinced I have some sort of gift when it comes to turning humans into vampires with special gifts. They've tried recruiting every one of us, multiple times. Any of us would be an asset to them, if we were interested….and you're no different, Lindsay. I have a feeling Aro's going to be extremely interested in your gift."

"My gift," I repeated through an eye roll.

"It is a gift," Samuel said. "Whether it's one you like or not, it's your gift. And I'm sure the Volturi are going to be extremely interested in it."

"I'm not going to join them," I said stubbornly.

Samuel, Jesse, Elisabeth and Anna all chuckled.

"You didn't need to tell us that," Samuel laughed. "We're all well aware of your problem with authority."

I smirked. It was one of my defining characteristics, in my previous life and in this one.

Coming up behind me, Elisabeth fretted over my hair. Ever since joining their "family," she'd really taken the role of my adoptive mother seriously. She gave me design magazines, telling me to pick out whatever I wanted for my new room. She would've taken me shopping, but given my newborn status and my already adept hunting skills, she didn't trust me to go out in public yet. She gave me piles and piles of designer clothes and loved to style my hair for me - whether I liked it or gave her permission to do so.

"My hair is fine," I said, trying to lean forward out of her grip. She had started to redo the French braid she'd restrained my dark locks to.

"Fine isn't good enough," Elisabeth smiled.

She was beautiful. I imagined she would've been beautiful as a human too, with her soft, deep red locks, high cheekbones and full lips. I was told she had blue eyes as a human. It was why Samuel saved me instead of allowing me to die as I wanted to. He said my eyes were exactly the same as Elisabeth's when she'd been alive. I could see how stunning she must've been with blue eyes.

There came a knock at the door. They were here.

"Anna, if you would be so kind," Samuel said, nodding to his adopted daughter-in-law.

She nodded, picking herself up from her place on the sofa across from me. She was dressed simply, but elegant as always in a pair of high waisted black pants with a white blouse tucked into them, showing off her tall, trim figure.

"Hello," Anna greeted.

Without a word, the Volturi entered our New Orleans home. They were dressed in long robes. They were lucky it was Mardi Gras, or else the outfits would've looked bizarre. But during Mardi Gras, they were some of the more normal looking ones.

Three stood at the front. I could assume they were the leaders. One dark haired man, one white haired man, one jet-black haired man. Two men stood to the back at their sides, guards, clearly. The three leaders were all intimidating in their own right. And powerful, I was assured. They didn't need guards.

"Pleasure, Samuel," the jet-black haired vampire said without taking his bright red eyes off of me. He must've fed off humans, like me. "I see this is your newest creation?"

"You know I don't like that terminology," Samuel chided, tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants. "I don't refer to my family members as creations."

"You've already bonded with her," the dark haired man commented. "All of you are quite attached….how long has it been?"

"About eight months," Elisabeth said. She was still behind me, hands on my shoulder in a motherly fashion.

"Hm," the man muttered. "All four of you have a bond to her that would indicate you've been together longer."

"Please, Marcus," the black haired man said. "We've forgotten our manners….it's a pleasure to meet you, Lindsay. My name is Aro, and together with Marcus," he gestured to the man who'd made the bonding comments, "And Caius," he gestured to the white-haired man who looked ready to pounce, "We lead the Volturi. But I'm sure your creator, excuse me, your father, has already informed you about us."

"A bit," I answered. My throat felt dry. It shouldn't have. I had just fed yesterday.

Aro extended his hand to me. He wanted to shake my hand, and he was going to do it without my consent.

"Please do not touch her," Samuel requested. He'd intercepted Aro's hand with vampiric speed.

Aro looked taken aback, but suddenly even more interested than he had before. "Why?"

Samuel faltered, and then said, "Her gift is unique."

Samuel had really caught the ancient vampire's attention now. The grin on his face was almost maniacal as he inquired, "How so?"

Samuel looked to Elisabeth and I. I could tell he didn't want to tell the Volturi. He feared they'd try and recruit me, or use another vampire to take me with them regardless of what I wanted.

"She….if you touch her, she absorbs your gift," Samuel explained. "Not robbing you of it, but acquiring the ability to use it herself."

Aro was staring at me, plotting. He was laughing too, in a way that was deeply unsettling. Behind him, Caius appeared interested for the first time, while Marcus narrowed his eyes at me.

"Wonderful," Aro said, coming closer to me. "I must see your gift for myself now. I must…..please, shake my hand."

"You don't understand," Samuel said. "It's not that simple. It's not that easy. Each time she absorbs a gift, as she had done with each of the four of us, she gets overwhelmed. Nearly sent into shock. I've never seen anything like it in another vampire…..I think her senses get overloaded. It hurts her."

"The pain will only be temporary," Aro said, brushing off Samuel's warning. "You must understand, Samuel, I must take a look at her. It's customary."

Samuel knew there was nothing more to do. He stepped back, and took Elisabeth's hand to move her away from me as well. I stood up and offered Aro a hand, which he eagerly took.

He was cold, even colder than I was or any of the others were. He held onto me, his eyes growing distant, as if he was looking through me rather than at me. I knew what he was doing. He was looking into everything my mind had ever felt, seen, thought, done…..he could see everything. That was his gift. And now that he had touched me, it was one of mine too.

I already had too many. I had Samuel's, the ability to influence others to do as I pleased. I had Elisabeth's, the ability to move objects telekinetically. I had Jesse's, the ability to fight exceptionally well and predict my opponent's moves. I had Anna's, the ability to send someone into a hypnotic trance. And now I had Aro's. Now I would see everyone's everything with every touch.

I didn't want it. I didn't want any of them. Every inch of my body burned, as if it was trying to reject all of the "gifts" that had been bestowed on me. I fell to my knees, my head feeling like it was going to explode. Aro released me. Elisabeth rushed to my side, rubbing my back as she helped me off the floor.

As much as she tried to comfort me, it didn't matter. Pain, worse that the extreme thirst pain I'd felt, worse than any pain I'd felt as a human, was rushing through my icy body. Everything was sharp and searing. Every emotion imaginable was coursing through my nervous system, making my brain feel like an egg in a frying pan. It hurt. To say it hurt like hell was an understatement. It was always was like this after I absorbed a gift. It made it not worth it, in my opinion.

"Amazing," Aro said. "I've never seen anything like it….you would do well among the Volturi."

I looked at him, attempting to rub the pain from my forehead to no avail. "No thanks. I have a problem with authority."

Aro's expression changed. He was amused with me now.

"Very well," he said in a sigh. "I see….however, if you ever change your mind -"

"I won't."

Samuel shot me a look. Jesse was doing his best to resist laughing, which Anna smacking him for, and Elisabeth squeezed me. Perhaps I'd been a bit rude.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

"No offense taken," Aro assured me with a strange sort of smile. "But the offer stands. If you ever wish to join us, you're welcome in Volterra anytime. I know you would be a perfect addition to our coven."

"Thank you," I said. I only said it because it was what Samuel wanted me to say.

"Of course," Aro nodded. He bowed a bit, before turning to the others to say, "Come, Marcus, Caius…..I believe our visit is over. That, and we must take a look at all of the humans celebrating Mardi Gras."

Caius and Marcus bowed as well, following Aro out the door with the guards behind them. Though they were gone for now, it would only be a matter of time before we met again. I was smart enough to know that.

"How long is my exile supposed to last?" I inquired, packing my suitcase.

Samuel chuckled slightly. "It's not an exile, Lindsay. Think of it as a vacation."

"A stress inducing vacation that I was forced to go on against my will, without my family," I retorted. "A real once in a lifetime trip. Can't wait."

"You haven't lost your teenage sarcasm," Samuel commented.

"The sarcasm is a part of me," I said. "Not because of the fact that I was a teenager."

The sarcasm was a part of me I wasn't going to lose, that was undeniable. But, I also still felt I was a teenager. Yeah, technically I was going to have my sixteen year-old-body forever, but I didn't feel I'd moved much past sixteen mentally yet either.

"Aren't you going to bring a dress?" Anna said, looking through my suitcase. "You need to bring at least two dresses. A girl can always use a dress."

I rolled my eyes. As much as I loved fashion and getting dolled up and going to the clubs (something I continued to do into my immortality), I hated dresses. I liked dressing in a sort of gender ambiguous way. Jeans, combat boots, leather jackets, old tee shirts and flannels were my style. Not the uber-girly dresses Anna insisted would look good on me. I liked my grungy looks. I was a 90's teen after all.

"They'd waste space," I said. "There's no point."

"What about this one?" Anna asked.

She held up the Chanel dress she'd bought me for my birthday. It was black, with thin spaghetti straps and a lacy top part. It hit the waist high, and then fell down to the ankles, the fabric gauzy, light and, as Anna put it, "goth, yet ethereal." The impressive price tag was still attached.

"What kind of occasion would I wear that to?" I asked, nearly laughing.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "What if there's a party or something?"

I glared. "I'm going to Forks, not Paris."

"You're impossible," Anna said. She folded the dress into the suitcase nonetheless. "And this is going with you."

I chuckled. I liked being impossible as much as I liked being sarcastic.

"You didn't answer my question, though, Samuel," I said, sitting down on my bed. I'd let Anna take over the packing if she cared so much. "About the length of my sentence."

Samuel chuckled, but the smile on his face soon fell.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I can't say. Things could get bad here with Bastien sniffing around for you. There….there could be a major fight. And we're not going to risk you becoming a part of that."

I crossed my chest and rolled my eyes. "You make it sound like I'm too weak to fight."

"I never said that," Samuel said. "But we don't know what kinds of measures Bastien's willing to go to in order to get you back. We're afraid he might kill you."

"You know that doesn't bother me."

Samuel and I stared at each other. Feeling the tension in the room, Anna made a swift exit.

"It bothers me," Samuel said. "And the others. And Nevaeh - I know you love Nevaeh."

He'd caught me. I loved that little girl to death. Metaphorically speaking.

"We're just keeping you safe," he continued. "Because we know what kind of a hold Bastien can have over you. And we know there's a strong chance of having to fight. I know you can fight - that's not the problem. The problem is we can't guarantee that you won't be touched if a fight breaks out, and you and I are well aware of the consequences."
He was right. I did not want to risk being touched by any other vampires. I had already absorbed seven gifts from other vampires. I'd discovered that it was increasingly painful each time it happened. And it wasn't the great gift that Aro and Bastien had cracked it up to be. It was a near constant overload. It was like trying to run a program on a computer without the proper software. I could use the gifts, sure, but I didn't have anywhere near the confidence or control over them that their original owners did.

"You'll be fine with the Cullens," Samuel said, breaking the silence. "They're well aware of the situation regarding your gift. And there will be extra protection there with the wolves."

I released a stifled laugh. The wolves. I'd managed to forget Samuel's friends the Cullens lived in the middle of some werewolf territory. Another reason to look forward to my exile.

"Come here," Samuel instructed with open arms.

I obliged, grinning as he hugged me.

"You know I love you, Lindsay," Samuel said. "You know I've always considered you to be my daughter since day one."

"I know."

"And you know I wouldn't ask you to go unless I thought it was the best thing."

"I know."

There was a pause in our conversation as I rested my head on his ice cold, rock hard shoulder.

"What about Nevaeh?" I asked.

"Nevaeh and Elisabeth will be going to Canada to stay with Vivienne, Pierre and Angelica," Samuel informed me. "A good opportunity for Nevaeh to learn some French. Rachel and Oliver will be staying with us as reinforcements in Elisabeth's absence."

I grinned slightly, but the grin fell off my face in a matter of seconds. "I'm sorry for all of this."

Samuel shook his head. "It's not you, Lindsay. It's Bastien."

I separated myself from Samuel. "And Bastien wouldn't give a shit about me if it wasn't for my damn gift."

"I won't deny that," Samuel said. A beat passed, and he patted my back between my shoulder blades in a loving, fatherly way. "Promise me you'll be good."

I looked up at him. We both knew I couldn't really promise that. I wasn't known for my ability to behave myself, alive or as a vampire.

"Lindsay," he said. "Promise me."

"I don't know if I can."

"You have to."

I frowned. Part of the deal was that I had to go to high school - all of the Cullens did, except Esme and Carlisle. It was part of their cover story, that they were all adopted teens, and it would've been weird if they didn't go to school, especially in a town as small as Forks. Part of my protection depended on my ability to blend in and go to school too. Bastien wouldn't look for me in a high school. He knew me too well.

"Fine," I sighed. "Fine, I promise to be on my best behavior. Even though that doesn't mean much."

"Don't be such a pessimist," Samuel said, squeezing me tight once again. "The Cullens are great. Forks could be better than you think."