Chapter 7

Missing Memories

"Bella?" Edward stood with his mouth hanging open. I could hear a heartbeat from the next room. He lifted his head and sniffed the air. "Bella!" Edward rushed from the room without a glance back. I was tempted to go in the dinning room and see the reunion, but I knew that I wasn't to be trusted around a human at the moment. I could feel the venom overflowing in my mouth just at the sound of her heartbeat.

Aro arched an eyebrow at me and gestured for me to follow him into the room. I hesitated. Marcus stood next to Aro and gestured for me to follow as well. I knew that I had to go into the room, but I was afraid for Bella. My feet moved as slow as a humans and I held my breath. It was uncomfortable, but better than the alternative of killing her on sight.

Edward had his arms wrapped around who I assumed to be Bella. She was a cute little thing with brown hair and pale skin. I was amazed, Edward had his mouth right next to her pulse point, but he didn't even seem tempted to drink. I was standing yards away holding my breath, but the sound of her heart was enough to drive me crazy. I stood in my place next to Marcus and thought about anything to distract me from my thirst.

I was trying to decide if my favorite color was green or blue when I saw some movement behind the human. A small vampire that I hadn't noticed was standing just behind the couple. From what Aro said she was a part of the same coven as Edward. It also seemed as though she had the power to read minds. Aro again attempted to convince them to stay and join the Volturi, but both declined.

Aro held his hand out for the human touch him, but when contact was made Aro didn't seem pleased. The human could block him from his mind. It was much like what Aro had been trying to train me to do for years. Aro was talking and I ignored much of what he said like I usually did.

Suddenly Edward was screaming and lying on the floor. It looked like he was suffering under Jane's power. Apparently Aro wanted to test a new theory on Bella and Edward wasn't having it.

"Enough Jane," Aro said, "if Edward doesn't want his human to be hurt I have a pain free way to test Bella. Harry please, come forward."

I stepped forward reluctantly. If I had to use ability now there was no way I would be able to keep myself from killing Bella. I knew it and apparently Aro knew it too.

"Try to take control of her mind."

I shook my head 'no'.

"Do it or you will never leave this castle again."

It was said so softly that nobody else would be able to hear. I knew that is was likely that I would never be able to leave the Volturi, but to never be able to leave the castle would be unbearable.

I was stuck. I had to do it. I reached my arm out and mentally reached out to grab her mind, but I couldn't. It was like her mind wasn't even there, but her heart beat told me that she was. I turned to Aro and shook my head 'no' to tell him that I couldn't do it. I was thankful that I couldn't. If I had, it probably would have pushed me over the edge.

"Try in on the psychic for me please," Aro said with a smirk on his lips. It took me a minute to figure out why he was doing this. If I attacked Bella Edward would most likely save her, but she would be bitten and a newborn. A newborn the would be stuck here for at least a year and if she was here Edward would stay with her. It seemed like Aro would do anything to aquire his pets.

I looked around the room for help, but found none. My eyes landed on Edward, who had his arms around Bella again his chest pressed against her back. I tried to read his mind, looking for anything that would get me out of this situation.

'Alice says that it will be ok.'

I glanced at Alice to see that she had a small smile on her face. I figured that it wasn't my place to question a mind reader and a psychic. I raised my arm up to her and grabbed her mind. She struggled for a moment (more than most), but eventually a glazed look went over her eyes.

"Now," Aro said as he saw her eyes glaze over, "I want her to attack Bella."

I looked over at Aro to see if he was serious. What he was trying to do was obvious and I was shocked that nobody was calling him out on his abuse of power. He stared me down waiting for either Alice or I to attack Bella. My mind was growing fuzzy and it became harder to ignore the pounding heart in front of me.

I turned back to Alice and Edward and he gave me a small nod. I would just have to trust that the psychic was right. Just as I was about to give my command I heard the sound of footfalls down the hall. I knew it had to be the 'feast' because vampires never made so much noise when they walked.

I turned back to Aro and gave my best puppy dog eyed look. He was stuck, he knew that I would let myself lose control, but keep my mind enough to avoid Bella and go after the tourist. Aro did an overdramatic sigh and waved his hand to tell me I could release Alice's mind.

"We will just have to continue this fun at a later date." Aro walked back to his seat and I walked back to my place. "Remember, turn the human soon, or we will do it for you."

Two of the guards lead our guests out just as the tourist were making there way in. When Aro started his speech I took in a deep breath and lunged for the first person I saw a little old lady holding a small rosary.

When I came back to myself I noticed that I had killed three this time. The old lady, a boy of about nine, and one of the girls I had tricked into coming on the 'tour'. The rest of the guards were already in there spots watching me. There was only one human left alive. She was in Felix's arms struggling to break free.

"Harry, I would like you to train with Jane and Afton today." Aro stood and walked to the door. Without turning back he said, "The human is a snack for later. I expect you to work hard tonight."

I wasn't sure why he wanted me to train so soon after a feast. Maybe it was to keep me from trying to escape or to forget about our encounter with the golden eyed vampires. It would be silly of him to think that I would forget, considering our infallible memories. It was never good for ones metal health to dwell on the way Aro's mind worked so I gave it up as a lost cause.

I was walking into the training room when a thought stuck me. I had learned how to eliminate memories early in my training, but had never gone in depth with it. It was more of a stepping stone on my way to controlling and reading minds.

It was thinking of memories that triggered this dangerous line of thought. If I could steal the memories of all the vampires in Volterra I would be free. It was really the only way that I would become free. Aro would never let me go and if I ran he would track me down. I would only be free if the Volturi never knew about me.

It was a complicated plan. First I had to do it tonight because if I didn't Aro would see these thoughts in the morning and would somehow prevent me from doing it.

Second I had to decide how I would take the memories. The Volturi judge time in relation to the Saint Marcus feasts. I had been here for four feasts. I would have to make it seem like I died at the first feast with all the other humans. Then I would have to take all of the memories that contained me as a central focus and remove them. The Volturi would just assume that everything took longer than it really did because what was time to someone that lived forever?

Third, I would have to decide what memories needed to be kept and alter them. Fourth, I would have to kill both humans in this building in order to have enough energy to alter the minds of everyone. Even then, I wasn't sure if I would have enough energy to finish it. Fifth, I had to make sure I didn't miss anyone. Sixth, I wasn't sure what six was yet, but I would think of something.

The door to the training room closed and I faced my first two obstacles.