Chapter 1

Return to Volterra

A Vampire-Human Hybrid, one like no other on earth had changed the face of the Cullen family; but now it had changed the heart of a king. Aro has long forgotten the love of a family but will his decision to begin again end in disaster?

We began the ephemeral return journey to our precious haven, our sanctuary, our beloved home; Volterra. Defeated, and humbled, at the hands of the Cullens and their befriended allies – that of an overwhelming pack of shape-shifters. In such numbers that I had never seen in all my years.

Though without the means of force, my dearly beloved brother, Caius, felt mortified and enraged of our humiliation – but even in my dismay, thankful I was still that the confrontation was peaceful and that it did not end violently. It would have been so devastating, and most traumatising, to have lost any member of my precious guard... my gifted children of the night... although it still would have been more satisfactory if we were to be returning home with some new prizes to add to my collection.

I looked around at those beside me, softly but attentively at the pale faces of my company; dearest Jane, her gentle angelic face, once soft with frightening innocence was now hidden in blinding fury and her eyes were bleeding with winding rage. Tilting my head to Caius, I briefly touched his velvet hand – his mind consumed and tangled in disappointment – hoping that violence would have been necessary to alter the outcome.

I sighed calmly, "Do not let your mind be troubled by this, dear brother." my whispery voice broke the disturbing silence, as we marched through the green forest; with nothing more than the sound of swift feet breezing against the snowy grass beneath us.

"You assume too little, brother, to believe that I am merely troubled," He snarled. "I am infuriated! We should have destroyed them! We should have destroyed them all! There insolence will cost them their very existence; and I tell you that no good will come of this, by letting that child live we are put everything we ever worked for in the hands of her creators."

A hiss sharply escaped his throat, and I did not see the few heads tilting down in shame and embarrassment.

"Calm yourself, Caius," I placed a light hand on his shoulder. "I implore you to see reason; we were both outnumbered and outmatched, and so it would have been impossible for us to have defeated them. And even without the protection from dear Bella, our entire guard would have been annihilated."

Caius scowled and turned his head away.

My hands then comforted one another, as a sigh breathed through my smile. "Though it was frightfully fascinating... to have made such a discovery, a breed that was entirely their own; half mortal and half immortal. I had never seen such a remarkable creature in all my existence... she truly was so beautiful."

The dazzling little angel, Renesmee, became a perfect vision in my mind; the beautiful bronze hair riddled with ringlets, her skin was soothingly warm, and with such adorable brown eyes – exact replicas of her mother's eyes from her formal life. The spines of fingers swept upwards from my chin and along my cheek... where I could still feel the warm touch of the child's finger tips... and still hearing the sound of the little pleading voice that whispered through her teeth.

At that moment, I felt Caius had caught me in my daze. "Your infatuation with the child, and the Cullens, will be the death of us all, Aro." He scowled.

My eyes then darted to the ground, such things were impossible to be ignored – I had always possessed a natural curiosity for discovery, especially when one had lived as long as I – supposedly it was the only thing that kept the fabric of everything I knew intact; but a string of detectable hostility was beginning to form between Caius and myself, even though I fully knew well that deep down Caius's loyalty lied true with me.

And the brief conversation was the last that we had; until, under the cover of the night, we smelt the rich familiar perfume of jasmine in the air, it was the fragrance that always reminded us that we were home. As we walked along the city streets, Marcus was just as silent as he had been the entire trip; though, as I brushed his hand, in his mind, he was nearly just as astonished to have seen the Cullen child as I was, and just how strong Edward and Bella's tying were to her – it was far more stronger than anything he had ever felt before.

But finally safe, back in the palace of Volterra, the guard assumed their natural positions as if nothing had happened. Our darling wives returned to the safety of the tower, while I walked through the sand marble halls in silence; my mind was repeatedly going over and over my thoughts: particularly about young Edward, Bella and their dear daughter – Renesmee. It was quite bothering and rather an unbreakable frustration; I just could not seem to get the child out of my mind, there was so much that I wanted to look into more deeply but my resources were extremely limited.

As I paced the halls in my solitude, I noticed Marcus standing motionless against a marble pillar, curiously I tilted my head as I stepped silently through a veil of moonlight beaming from the upper windows; looking at him as I took in an unnecessary breath – to the pit of my stone heart, it was truly a sadness to see that my brother had become a ghost.

A shadow taken form and trapped into a body of stone that haunted the palace walls – Marcus's long black hair draped down his face as he stared down at a small box grasped in his cold hands. Before I committed the unthinkable of destroying my own sister, Didyme; she had given him a beautiful music box, as well as a few other treasures, but this saddened angel favoured the music box above all others.

Marcus having kept the box hid within the vaults, along with all of her other belongings, and underneath all my joy and content, it almost destroyed me every day to witness my brother-in-law linger and fade away... what I had turned him into. But at the time my lust for power greatly out weighted my love and guilt for my family... though I am uncertain now if that is the case anymore.

I walked a few paces forward towards him; though Marcus had caught sight of me and tucked the box back into his robe.

"No need to hide from me, brother." My voice was no more than a mere melodic whisper. "I see you wither day by day into shadow, all because of the absence of her... and I too miss her tremendously."

His milky red eyes found my own, so hurt, so lonesome; tired of searching for purpose. "I only wish... that more of her could walk through these timeless halls. Aside from her belongings... the only being that reminds me of her is you, Aro." his voice was so wrenched from lack of use, but none the less I was so touched.

His eyes dropped, and the music box was grasped in his fingers once again; they opened the lid and the blissful tune conducted its silvery lullaby. Both of us sighed in sorrow, placing my hand on his shoulder, I leaned my head in close until I felt my dear brother's shoulder under my chin and his hair upon my brow; as the heavenly tone continued, Marcus's cracked voice pieced itself together and through his un-parted lips he hummed deeply to the music. I felt it was only natural for me to harmonise a few tones higher than his own; until minutes later and the music faded into the nothingness that consumed us once more.

I lifted my chin from Marcus's shoulder but still resting in his hair, I slowly turned to face him, "Why can't things be the way they were before?" I whispered.

Poor Marcus managed a slight grin in the corner of his mouth. "The world changes, Aro... we do not..." he sighed deeply, "If only time would stand still with us... but life has been long forgotten in this house... though to us, life does not exist anymore; it does not concern itself with us. But yes; if only there was some way that we could somehow keep it."

The slight grin dropped from Marcus's lips, cupping my cheek, he leaned down slightly and kissed my forehead; Marcus then turned and his cloak glided across the floor behind his ankles as he left without a word.

My eyes dropped again; looking down at my hands clenched together. "What have I done...?"

But Marcus's sentiment was right – if only there was a way to bring back life into the coven.