The true nature of the beasts

Aro finds an injured young girl in the Volturi's garden. Beware, the Volturi are not the dreams fan fiction writers propose.

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When Aro found the broken bird collapsed in the garden, he felt a curiosity that compelled him to take her inside the castle and settle her in one of the guest rooms. He looked down at her, with her dirt-dusted face and a torn shirt, and wondered how she had ended up in the Volturi garden.

He inhaled the faint scent of blood, then noticed her hands had scuff marks, some deep enough to allow blood to ooze forth and smear her palms. Had she jumped the garden wall, injuring her bare hands? Perhaps she had been running away from someone and needed a place to hide. Aro called for Chelsea to clean up the unconscious girl, find her fresh clothing, and get her some cool water and hot food.

When Marcus and Caius find out about Aro's discovery, they joined him to discuss what they should do with her. Having this human in the castle was not safe, for the humans who worked for them, for his own people, or for the young woman herself. But once she had been cleaned up, she was quite captivating to the three vampires.

Intrigued by her beauty, Aro would visit her, talking with her and asking if she needed anything. He found out her name was Marie Louise, and she had run away from home. Her parents were seeking to force her to marry a local boy she didn't love. She was almost spied by a relative who had been looking for her, so she decided to climb the castle wall to hide there until he went away. She had slipped, as far as she could remember, and must have passed out when she fell. Later that day, after their talk, Aro had gone into the garden to cut a few fragrant blooms to bring to her room, hoping they would cheer her.

Marcus brought her books to read, with subjects she had indicated an interest in. He chose some he knew were in the Volturi library and returned to her room with them. They read together, then would discuss the various subjects for hours. Marcus was pleased in her apparent intelligence, showing a lively interest in her, something unusual for him.

Caius found out during his visit with her that she loved games. She bragged that she could beat anyone, even him, at any game he chose. The blonde vampire brought boards for checkers and chess, along with a deck of cards. They played together, whereupon Marie Louise beat Caius at checkers, lost to him at chess, and tied him the same winning games of gin rummy, before she finally tired. He kissed her forehead and told her to rest, then left her.

In all this time of visiting with the three kings, Marie Louise noticed the colour of their eyes, and finally asked Aro why their eyes were red. He explained that they were vampires, very old and extremely powerful.

Marie Louise listened raptly as Aro told her their history, how they came to be in Italy, and how immortality worked. In four days, she had come to love the three kings, and wanted to be with them always. When Aro, Marcus, and Caius came to visit her together, while she was still in bed, Marie Louise asked Aro if he would make her a vampire, an immortal like them, so that she could stay with them forever.

"That is not something we are willing to offer you."

Suddenly, Aro tugged on her hair, and pulling her head to the side, exposed her throat to his sharp teeth. He bit hard into the tender flesh, the blood flowing immediately. Caius lifted her arm, placing her wrist to his mouth, biting hard, and drinking the oozing blood. Marcus bared her upper thigh and bit into the soft flesh, drinking the blood running down her leg.

The pretty young woman moaned while the three Volturi kings drank from the wounds they'd made on her body. She looked up at them, tears brimming in her eyes. Aro noticed the tears and said, "I am sorry, my dear, but it is our nature." She expired a few moments later.

Once the three kings had finished with her, they had Felix bury her body deep in the ground in the corner of the garden where she had been found. Aro visited her grave, and placed a single white rose on the mound of dirt. "You will be with us forever, Marie Louise, just not quite the way you wanted." He turned away from the grave, and went back into the castle.