Chapter 19: La Famiglia

Hello loves! As a treat to all my readers who have kept up over the years I have decided to post an extra chapter within the month. I would appreciate if I could get some more feedback on how the story is going to make sure everyone is enjoying the story.

Dance is the most fundamental of all art forms - Twyla Tharp

The Volturi family sitting room was located in one of the inner sanctums of the castle. A secret room hidden by elaborate hallways and grand paintings of centuries long lost to the world. This part of the castle seemed the oldest and yet the most elaborate; Helen did a double take when she realized that had she walked further down the hall, she'd be heading towards the staircase leading to her bedroom.

'I honestly doubt I will ever find everything here, this place is one giant maze and yet it seems so simple once you figure out where things are.' Helen thought to herself defeatedly. She heard Aro chuckle and realized that he found her thoughts amusing again.

'Stop doing that!' She rolled her eyes at him as she thought that to him.

"Sweetling, you act like I have the ability to turn off my gifts at the drop of a hat." Aro sighed, "yet it would be such a blessing and a curse to be alone with my thoughts for once."

Aro stopped at a large mahogany door and let go of Helen's arm, which she was grateful because the icy feel of Aro's hands was starting to give her frostbite. 'How fitting,' Helen thought bitterly, 'his hands are as cold and uncaring as he really is.' Aro opened the door which revealed a gloriously decorated room with beautiful couches and chairs. There were several bookcases and chandeliers, and the whole room had a very Palace of Versailles feel to it. Caius and Athenodora were intertwined on one of the adjacent couches while Sulpicia lazily flipped through a copy of Italian Vogue and Marcus sat alone in one of the single chairs, his face buried in one of the ancient tomes from the bookshelves. On the coffee table there was a tray of wine glasses filled with blood and it made Helen's stomach churn.

"Hope you all can forgive me for keeping you in suspense." Aro smiled, "I needed to have a word with my daughter."

"Is that so?" Caius smirked. Athenodora giggled into his neck before giving Helen a malicious smile; Helen had not had much interaction with the woman due to neither of them showing interest in the other, and yet she knew that was about to change due to Aro giving her a rise in her status.

"How nice." Athenodora beamed.

Sulpicia motioned for Helen to come sit on the chair adjacent to the chaise lounge she had rested herself upon. Her eyes were soft and warm, in contrast to the frightening shade of red her eyes were. Helen gulped and took her seat, which now had her directly next to Marcus. Aro joined his wife on the lounge and placed his hand on the thigh of her dress, absently rubbing it back and forth.

"Is that any good?" Helen asked Marcus, who seemed a bit stunned that someone had bothered to acknowledge his presence.

"Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey." Marcus breathed, "reminds me of home."

"Oh," Helen answered, "I had to read that in the eighth grade."

"Did you now?" Athenodora chimed in, curious as a cat. "Enlighten us about how you found it, dear."

Helen huffed and replied sharply. "It was alright, I couldn't really get into it or understand it."

"Oh no." Caius drawled, "why on earth would you?"

Sulpicia pursed her lip and gave them both a fake smile. "I'm sure it must be a daunting read for those unfamiliar with it, I do remember that you had trouble with Tolstoy when the publications were first made available, Dora." Aro sniggered into his wife's hair as Athenodora snarled at her.

"Oh hush, you are just as interested in Russian literature as I am, Sia." She spat back.

"Now, now," Aro interjected with a raise of his hand. "No need to fuss, my dears. I have already informed Helen that I would like to resume teaching her myself. It wouldn't be prudent for her to fall below our standards of intelligence." Caius bit his lip as though he was trying to stop himself from laughing, while Athenodora sneered.

'Oh shit, I forgot that was gonna start happening. Well, crap.' Helen thought to herself, annoyed. Marcus took one of the glasses for himself and began idly sipping, which was enough of a cue for the remaining members of the family to do so as well. Helen felt her stomach churn even more and grabbed one of the newspapers on the coffee table, hoping to distract herself.

"Oh we've been rude." Sulpicia exclaimed, "little bird, would you like us to send for some refreshments? Coffee? Wine? The like?"

"No thanks." Helen replied dryly and then saw Aro give her a warning glare, "I'm fine, mom." Sulpicia beamed, very tickled to hear a child call her that.

"Well I'll have supper sent up for you later, in case you get peckish." She smiled.

"Thank you." Helen gave her a small smile back and looked down at the newspaper she picked up. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Helen could feel her head spin. Whoever gave this to her as some sort of a practical joke was definitely making her shit list. Aro noticed the title of the paper and placed his own glass down before standing up and snatching it out of her hands.

"I don't think you'd find this particularly interesting, love." Aro smiled sweetly, "go fetch something else." With that he folded the paper neatly into his suit jacket before Helen could protest or complain. Bitterly, she headed towards one of the bookcases and hoped to find something at least in English or French. Helen picked up a battered copy of Dante's Divine Comedy and took her seat once more.

"How fitting I choose the book about traveling through Hell' Helen thought angrily to herself, while turning the pages. 'I wonder if there is something in there he doesn't want me to see, or if he's just being all irritating as usual. Yeah, you heard me, Aro, I called you irritating.'

Helen was actually very thankful that he wasn't reading her thoughts right now, because she knew she'd regret telling him that the second she said it.

"Exactly when are you planning on turning the girl?" Athenodora's sickly sweet voice brought her back from her thoughts and Helen saw Aro give her a fake smile when he noticed her paying the conversation some attention again.

"Sia and I have been talking and think we should wait until after the New Year's Ball." Aro explained, "after all I'd rather not deal with the newborn phase while Helen seems stuck in this rebellious phase. Oh no, I think at least another month should straighten out any kinks in her behavior; not to mention that I'd hate for her not to be in attendance."

'He is literally talking about me like I am not here, while threatening me! What the actual fuck?!"

"Is that your excuse to the vampire community?" Caius snarled, "your family play-pretend game is making them question our authority! The longer she remains alive the more people will challenge the laws we enforce! One of our own guard members nearly rebelled thanks to that brat!"

Helen gulped and the room gained such an air of hostility she had never seen before. Aro and Sulpicia's faces were serene and yet their eyes held anger and fury that would make anyone scream. The tension in this room was so thick you could cut it with a knife and Helen could've swore she saw Caius suddenly regret hitting a nerve with them.

"Dear brother," Aro replied with a cheshire cat grin. "I do hope that we are beyond such vulgarity. I do understand the impertinence of your tone, however, you would do well to remember that many of our kind are indebted to myself for all of the grace and kindness we have shown them over the years." Aro rose and stood brooding over Caius, and in Helen's opinion he now looked about twenty feet tall. "Not to mention the generosity that I have given to you and my dear sister over the years. I would like to believe that has earned my wife and I the right to enjoy our lovely daughter before solidifying her to the community."

"Are we in agreement then?" Aro raised and eyebrow and Caius did not hesitate to reply, "yes of course, brother. I only ask that we are prudent with welcoming our newest child."

"Certainly," Sulpicia nodded, also pleases with herself. "I also thought Helen might join us for gown shopping tomorrow. Wouldn't that be lovely, Dora?"

Athenodora gave a small smile, "absolutely, I feel as though Helen should be welcomed by all of us. Do you not agree, husband?" Caius also gave the same false grin in return. "Wholeheartedly, mio caro."

"Wonderful!" Aro cried and then returned to the embrace of his wife. "So lovely for us all to agree. Helen, I thought we might start the lesson tomorrow morning? Would that work for you?"

Helen gave him an exasperated grin. "Oh, you almost make it sound like I have a choice."

This in turn made everyone, except Marcus, who had not really paid much attention to any of this, chuckle at her joke. Well, to all of them it seemed like a joke.

After a while, the evening drew late and Sulpicia had sent up for some food for Helen. Athenodora and Caius complained of the smell and how disgusting they found both human food and a human eating, which gave Helen the perfect opportunity to excuse herself to eat in her room. While Sulpicia didn't want to see her go, Aro did think it appropriate and considerate of everyone in room and wished her a good night.

Helen had the maid bringing her the food to also bring her a large glass of wine and a huge piece of cake.

"That was the longest three hours of my life!" Helen exclaimed as she threw herself on the bed. "I think I actually found something that makes me want to turn on The O'Reilly Factor with my Dad!"

The rest of the time spent in the sitting room was a mix of politics, debates, and assessments on philosophy and literature. The occasional current event would be thrown in there, nothing that Helen would have heard of, obviously. The worst is the active amount of participation required by those in the room. A very Kennedy-esque or probably Enlightenment-esque style to keep them sharp.

"Helen." Athenodora chimed in on her, "do you know of Oleg's assault on Constantinople? It was quite a period for us under Byzantine."

"I do not know of that." Helen replied nervously, "I do know that Istanbul is Constantinople, so if you've got a date in Constantinople, she'll be waiting in Istanbul."

The vampires in the room all looked at her as though she told them that the sky was pink with purple polka dots.

"I have never ever felt so stupid in my life!" Helen yelled at the spread of French Onion soup and Braciola in front of her, "and now I'm yelling into my food. God, I need a smartphone or a cheatsheet or a valium, more like all three!"

Helen started to relax more once she had eaten something and took great delight in being able to be by herself as opposed to having to venture back into the snake pit.

'I don't know how I can do this! I literally almost started crying in the throne room, I can barely stand to be around the lot of them! They're all so horrible and I can't believe that I ever agreed to this in the first place!'

She gasped at herself for even thinking that. That was a terrible thing to think about her decision to go with Aro in exchange for the safety of her friends and family. Helen walked over to her desk and was pleasantly surprised at the gift of her Macbook, an iPhone and a card on top.

So proud of you and all you've learned.

Remember that trust can just as easily be lost as it is earned, although I do think you have grown enough to know that.

I shall see you in the morning.

All my love,

Dad

Helen shuddered at thought of having to call Aro that. Regardless on how she felt about him, it rolled off of her tongue in a strange way. The word 'Dad' didn't really seem to fit him, it was so informal and common and he's very respectable and old fashioned. Although the word 'Father' made her feel very The Crucible like. She did take pleasure in being able to access to the internet again and being able to use a phone again. For the past month she had felt like a part of her was missing and would look through her pockets and purses before finally realizing she was cut off from the rest of the world.

Helen opened her laptop and once again decided to venture back into her hometown's current buzz, an email popped up on her screen and she instead decided to check out her now ninety-four unread messages.

The email was copied to her and her Dad's email address and was from the St. Louis Academy of Dance, postmarked three days ago.

Mr. Hendricks,

We continue to offer our condolences to you and your family. This must be a very hard and difficult time and we offer our greatest sympathies that Miss Helen Hendricks return home safely. However, due to the circumstances of her disappearance with our school's honor code we must at this time terminate her acceptance to our academy. We hope very much that Miss Hendricks be found safely and would be delighted to allow her to re-apply for admission, at the very least, for the following year. If you have any questions or concerns I would be more than happy to follow up with you.

Best,

Matthew Pruitt

Principal of SLAD

Helen just felt her heart drop. Well, there went her dream and every opportunity she ever had getting closer to it. Even if in some alternate universe, Aro actually let her go home and be a ballerina, there's no way she'd get into any dance school. They basically just expelled her and even if she re-applied she'd have this big, red mark on her transcript. Not wanting to continue dwelling, she clicked back on the newsfeed of and found that her Dad had reportedly been suspended from work for the time being, after a mistrial was declared on a case involving a young teenage runaway who defended her kidnapper in court. Richard had blown up and started calling the girl Helen and how there was no way she'd do this to him.

'Oh god, Dad I am so sorry. This is all my fault, no wonder you hit a bad streak, please don't start drinking again.'

Some good news arrived from Sydney, her mother won full custody but her father agreed to weekend lunches with her and wouldn't bring her bitchy stepmother. Aggie was still dealing with her parents, although they appeared to let up after realizing how unfair they were being to her. The biggest surprise came when she saw an email from Allie that only contained a four words.

I'm sorry for everything

Despite the broken fragments of their relationship, Allie had been Helen's best friend for the longest time. She had known her longer than she had known Syd and Aggs. Her grandfather was one of Richard's law professors at Wash U and the girls grew up playing and dancing together. She remembered the big crush she had on Wesley in fifth grade and how by sixth grade rolled around she was already over him and bragging about her first kiss with Danny McIntyre. All those years of trick-or-treating and slumber parties, years of Hannah Montana concerts and dance classes. Helen hadn't really thought about what it had really meant to her, and that really stung.

Helen wanted to apologize back, but the constant reminder of why she couldn't hit her like a ton of bricks. She was tired of dwelling on this, but it felt necessary to check back in with her old life. She thought about the Volturi family and how truly awful it must be for them, their civilizations and old lives were long forgotten by time and barely a fraction was probably really remembered by both them and the modern world. There wasn't any social media or even pictures they had to reminisce on the good times. No, just the work of poets and historians.

In a way, she understood why they didn't seem so pleased by many modern things. They were old relics, out of time and out of place, no one who remembered them or cared.

'Stop it!' Her thoughts reminded her, 'don't empathize with these people! Aro kidnapped you, stole your future and is brainwashing you into this living doll for him to play with! Sulpicia may be more maternal than Kathleen, but she's still fine with keeping you prisoner! Don't even get me started on the Caius and Athenodora!'

Helen couldn't help but agree with her thoughts. Despite whatever form of love they may claim to give her, they did ruin her life and selfishly forced her to do as they pleased. The worst part was that small piece of her that wanted to give in and accept it, and the other pieces of her that stepped in.

"Yep, I am going crazy." Helen mused to herself, taking a bite of cake.

The next morning, Aro had Helen woken up bright and early and was very eager to start her lessons with him. "This is all very exciting," Aro beamed. "I've been looking forward to seeing you more, now that we have all this unpleasantness behind us."

"I'm actually kind of looking forward to doing something with my time, I felt kind of stupid last night." Helen admitted, she was in a good mood today for some reason and didn't feel like fighting with Aro or being fake.

"Yes, well," Aro sighed, "that isn't really any fault of your own, darling. I detest the education quality that the New World gives its children. The treatment that the arts receive is next to nothing."

"Yeah, the school boards usually feel like arts are just extra activities and it does't matter if they cut spending to pay for new science equipment, or more likely new athletic equipment."

Aro scoffed, "not only that. The idea of standardized testing appalls me, you only learn enough to pass a test, nothing of value or substance. However, that nastiness is all behind you now. I thought we might start with something basic: world civilizations."

"You like history?" Helen asked, and then felt like that was a stupid question.

"Facts and dates alone won't be beneficial, you need to understand the factors as to why things happen." Aro smirked, "besides, how do you say? Those who fail history are doomed to repeat it."

"Was it hard in the last century? You know, when Mussolini took over and made Italy fascist?" Helen found the irony of the question to be quiet funny. Assuming Aro ruled some portion of Italy, even behind the curtain, she doubted things were different.

"Not particularly, dear." Aro seemed fascinated that someone had asked him about a past event, "the fascist regime didn't interfere with our way of life, but it was such a romantic era to be in. The holocaust made things easier for nomad vampires to hunt and feed, we actually ended up interfering with camp deliveries in a covert alliance with Herr Hitler. Two birds, as they say."

"You were allies with Nazis?!" Helen asked, incredulously.

"I do not align myself with their antisemitic ideology if that is what you are implying, love." Aro sighed with his feathery voice, "but we must do what we can to survive, the bearings of war protect our secret. I myself am actually not prejudiced towards race or religion."

"No, just species." Helen snorted.

"Oh, don't be sanctimonious." Aro furrowed his brows, "you act as if you've never had an unbiased thought. I may have no regard for human life, but I do appreciate what can from it. Arts, sciences," He paused and played with a strand of Helen's hair. "You."

'How can he be this gentle and calm one minute, and then grow jealous and murderous another?'

"Now that we've wasted eight minutes." Aro mused, "let's begin."

For the next two hours, Aro dug into the Age of Exploration and how certain geographic regions played their role in expanding. She heard him read the journals of missionaries exploring the New World and Africa. After that, he let Helen take a lunch break before going to feed as well. Once they resumed, Aro read her a passage from Martin Luther's ninety-five theses and illustrated the beginning of the Reformation and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire. Which at that point was neither holy, Roman or an empire. All the while, Helen couldn't stop staring at the bright red of Aro's eyes. They were mesmerizing, captivating even and it infuriated her to no end.

"Let him who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences be anathema and accursed," Helen was following along while Aro spoke from memory, she was hoping he wouldn't notice her staring at him, and then all of a sudden a smirk grew on his lips.

"I know I'm very fascinating, darling, but you must pay attention and learn." He chuckled.

"Whatever, I get it, okay? Catholic Church, bad. Pope, bad. Luther, good." Helen huffed. Aro had a very sickly sweet smile on his face and it was making her nervous.

"I know what you've been thinking, you naughty child." He smiled brighter, "I spoke with Renata, and she informed me about your peak in curiosity, not that I am surprised, of course. It does help to know that with each passing day, you grow to the idea of becoming a vampire."

"No." Helen rolled her eyes, "I'm staring at you because your voice is putting me to sleep, it's called tuning out."

"Oh, my dear, you really are a terrible liar." Aro sighed, "though I do have to know what about immortality is finally tempting you?"

"I am not talking to you about this, all I did was ask Renata a question because it's easier than talking to you." Helen replied very frankly, biting her lip a little and hoping she didn't just stir the beast.

"Well, you certainly are a cool little miss, aren't you?" Aro snarled, and it made Helen more nervous.

"I apologize," Aro admitted with a deep breath. "That was very ungentlemanly of me. I just detest the fights and quarrels we get into, and I had hoped they were behind us."

"No, it's just that when you talked to me yesterday it makes me on edge to be around you." Helen admitted, "you have me in a state of anxiety that I can't get rid of."

Aro pursed his lips and paused to think for a moment, as if studying how best to respond. "Looking back on such things, perhaps I did get a tad overzealous. Try and understand my actions, will you? You have denied me the thing that I want most, and I found what I needed to do in order to achieve it."

"By implying you are one step-out-of-line away from making good on your threats?" Helen asked sincerely, "why can't you just accept me for who I am?"

"I do accept you, Helen, really." Aro explained softly, "I'm justing trying to make you better, you don't understand how difficult it's going to be after your change if you hold onto that self-righteous attitude of yours. You can only achieve happiness here if you part with those beliefs."

"I think we've reached another stalemate." Helen replied curtly.

"Indeed, I can tell that when you aren't listening and now I'm annoyed." Aro furrowed his brows once more, "I'll see you tomorrow. Go find Sulpicia." Helen nodded and rose from the chair in his study, as she turned to leave she heard Aro clear his throat. His eyes were dark and he looked as if he was expecting something from her.

The realization hit her like a bitch.

"I love you, Aro." Helen said as easily as she could. He didn't seem interested in the fact that she used his name, and it looked as though she had appeased him for now.

Helen had found Sulpicia not long after and she was coaxed into sitting with her and Athenodora in what was called The Wives' Room. With beautiful blush colored furniture and complimenting wallpaper.

'Jeez, how many sitting rooms are here?! I'm sure there's a Husbands' Room where Aro and Caius sit around and congratulate themselves on being masters of the universe!'

"Helen." Sulpicia's calming voice snapped her out of her daydream. "How did the lesson go?" Athenodora also seemed interested in the answer to this question.

"Alright, we went over world civilizations and into the Age of Exploration." Helen knew that Aro would tell Sulpicia about their fight, and then she'd get on her too, but she really wasn't in the mood. "I think he's hoping to branch off what I was learning in high school."

"That's wonderful." Sulpicia smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "it pleases me to know that you're starting to settle in, finally. I detest all the difficulties that have occurred thus far."

'Yep, I'm screwed. I wonder what grounded means in Ancient Rome, probably involves being boiled in oil.'

"For the New Years Ball we thought we might plan on having a more festive approach, after all it has been such a lovely and eventful year for us all. I was reading an article..." Helen drowned out Sulpicia again. She couldn't take any more of this today, and they were going to town to go gown shopping after this and meet with the designers. Apparently her new role as Lady Helen gave her an active part in Volturi affairs. Her eyes drifted to a copy of the Volterra newspaper and she noticed the date and immediately felt a rush of homesickness and nearly burst into tears.

November 24, 2011

She had missed her first Thanksgiving with her family and didn't even realize it.

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