Pairing: Bella/Caius

Genre: Romance

Summary: Takes place when Bella and Alice go to Italy in NM to save Edward. Bella is entranced by Caius.

A/N: FYI there's Edward-bashing in this one. Feel free to skip it if you're an Edward-fan. Thanks for the reviews. I love reading them. There is some direct dialogue towards the beginning of this one, dialogue from the book is in italics. FYI Bella is strong and cocky in this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Bella POV

I couldn't believe this! I'd let Alice convince me to come with her to Italy to save Edward's stupid ass. She claimed that I was the only one that he couldn't see coming. I'd managed to stop the stupid idiot from exposing vampires to the rest of the world, but then he thought he was dead and had joined me in the afterlife. Then I had to convince him that neither of us were dead and that he'd almost exposed the world to vampires. Then the stupid idiot starts trying to apologize for leaving me all those months ago and telling me how much he loves me.

A couple of dark haired vampires dressed in almost all black joined us. They told Edward that we were to follow them to meet with Aro. Edward tried to protest and send me out to the festival but the guys in front of me (that I learned were Demetri and Felix), shot him down quickly. It wasn't long after that a female with a black cloak joined us wondering what was taking so long. I learned that this was Jane. Edward had told me about her power, and I had to admit that it terrified me.

The three Volturi vampires led us down the hallway to a door that opened to a flight of stairs. Felix and Alice went down first, then Demetri ushered me through and Edward tried to keep me close to him but I jerked my arm out of his grasp. I heard Demetri chuckle and I couldn't help the smirk on my face. As we made our way down the stairs Demetri held his arm out for me. "Thanks…" I said, knowing that I'd probably trip otherwise.

"Demetri. And you're welcome. It's Isabella, right?" Demetri asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Most everybody calls me Bells or Bella though." I said.

"Bella…It suits you." He said.

"Thanks." I said.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we were greeted with another hallway. Demetri led me down the hallway. When we got to the end of that hallway we were standing in front of a set of double golden arched doors. They were beautiful. It was something that I'd noticed throughout the walk to this doorway…the beautiful architecture. Demetri left me with Alice to join Felix in opening the doors for us, with Jane in the back.

When we walked into the room, it was just as beautiful as everything else that I'd seen. At the front of the room, was a platform with three thrones on it. And there sat the three kings. I recognized them from Carlisle's painting in his study back in Forks. I could see Aro in center; he looked to be just shy of 6 feet tall with long sleeked back black hair. Then on the left was Marcus; he looked exactly 6 feet tall with long black hair. I could tell that he was older than Aro (even if Aro was the leader). He looked bored while Aro looked excited upon our arrival. Then on the right, was Caius; he was about the same height as Aro but he had almost white hair. To me he was the most handsome.

"Jane, dear one, you've returned!" Aro greeted her.

Jane glided over to Aro, "yes Master. I've brought him back alive just as you wished." Jane said, before I turned back to stare at Caius even though he didn't seem to notice me.

I continued to listen while I watched Caius. "And Alice and Bella, too! This is a happy surprise! Wonderful!" Aro said. I turned back to pay attention to what Aro was saying. "You see Edward? What did I tell you? Aren't you glad that I didn't give you what you wanted yesterday?" Aro asked Edward.

"Yes, Aro, I am." Edward said.

I couldn't help but cross my arms over my chest and roll my eyes. I glanced up and saw that this got not only Aro's attention but Caius's as well.

Aro asked Edward how it came to be that Alice and I were here. That was when I tuned out the conversation and stared at Caius who was now staring back at me. I noticed him look over at Marcus who gave him a slight nod. Aro was about to read Alice's thought's when Marcus interrupted him. Aro took Marcus's hand and his eyes glazed over like Alice's did when she got a vision. I turned to look at Alice and she shrugged. I wondered if she had seen anything. I turned back to look at Aro. "Thank you, Marcus. That's quite interesting." Aro said, before he turned back to us. He gave me a knowing wink. What could that be about?

Aro decided that since Edward couldn't read my thoughts, that he wanted to see if I was immune to anyone else's gifts. I was game for it, but Edward had other ideas. As soon as Edward tried to lunge forward to try and protect me, Jane had him on the floor writhing in pain and when I turned to move away from him, Caius was beside me. I stared into the beautiful red eyes that were looking back at me, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Aro watching in amusement.

"Jane, that's enough." I heard Aro say. "Caius, brother, I believe that you and Isabella have a few things to talk about." Aro said.

"Of course." Caius said. "Would you care to accompany me to my study? I have something to discuss with you."

Before I could respond, I was pulled behind Caius. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER! SHE IS MINE!" Edward yelled at Caius.

I heard Caius growl. "Edward Cullen! I belong to no one." I said, before grabbing Caius's hand. "Show me your study." I said.

Caius quickly scooped me up into his arms and ran out of the throne room. I wasn't sure how long we ran for but when Caius stopped running he set me back down on the ground. "Sorry. Running was easier." He said.

I shook my head. "No. It's fine. I've run with the Cullen's before." I told him.

He nodded, before he opened the door in front of us. He ushered me inside. Once we were both in, he closed the door behind us and led me over to a sitting area. "What do you know about mates, my dear?" Caius asked me.

I sighed. "I know that vampires mate for life. I know that Edward thinks that I am his mate, but I am not. That I know." I told Caius.

"How do you know?"

"Because if I was then he wouldn't have broken up with me last fall and he wouldn't have been able to stay away from me for the last six months." I said.

Caius nodded. "This is true. You are not his mate, just merely a companion. What do you know about me and my brothers?" He asked me.

"I saw a painting once of the three of you with Carlisle. The three of you are the Kings of the Vampire world. You're the ones that make the laws to protect the vampire race and you enforce them. Edward once said that you three are at the top of the vampire hierarchy." I said.

Caius had a big smile on his face. "I guess that is true, but more than that above all else we are a coven just like any other." Caius said.

He sat there for a minute looking deep in thought. I reached over and grabbed his hand. "Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

He smiled at me while he rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand. "Do you know what Marcus's gift is?" He asked me. I shook my head. "Marcus can see the bonds between people." He told me.

"That must be pretty cool. To know what bonds are between people. I'd love to talk to him about it someday." I said.

Caius's smile got bigger. "I'm sure he'd love that. Isabella…I noticed that we kept staring at each other in the throne room. Do you know why that is?" He asked me. Again, I shook my head. "Did you feel this need to be close to me?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't understand it. Especially, since I've always been told to steer clear of you and your brothers." I said.

I heard Caius growl. "The reason that you felt that…and the reason I pulled you behind me when Cullen lunged is because your my mate." Caius said. I gasped. I was definitely shocked. I mean, sure, I thought that Caius was handsome, but I never imagined that I was his mate. "I've shocked you, I'm sure. I apologize. I just needed you to know." Caius said. "I needed to tell you so that we could talk about your options."

"My options?" I questioned.

He nodded. "Yes. As my mate, that makes you a Queen of Volterra. Your still in high school, yes?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Graduation is in a couple of weeks." I told him.

He nodded. "Well, one option we have is for me and a guard member...probably Demetri, would return with you to Forks...he would go with you to and from school for protection and you're in public boyfriend." Caius said.

"What's another option?" I asked looking away from him. I didn't want to think about pretending to be Demetri's girlfriend. I felt pain in my chest at the thought.

"The only other option would be for you to stay here, allow me to change you and we begin our life together." He said.

I looked back over at him at that. That sounded more like what I wanted to do. "What about my father?" I asked. "He's going to know that something is up when I don't come home. He's a cop...he won't stop looking and I don't want him to get hurt." I told Caius.

"Well…Would it make you happy to spend eternity with your father?" He asked me.

I looked at him shocked. "You would do that?" I asked.

He reached up and gently rubbed my cheek with his thumb. "If it makes you happy then yes." Caius said.

I leaned forward and lightly captured his lips with mine for our first kiss. When I pulled back, I smiled at him. "Let's begin our life." I told him.

I don't think that his smile could have gotten any bigger. "That makes me so happy. I'll make the arrangements for us to go get your father and makes any necessary arrangements in Forks." He told me.

"Thank you."