Isabella's POV:

It had been some time since I had explored the depths of dungeons. Decades had passed since the last time I had been down here yet I found myself sauntering through the underground maze as if it had been only yesterday, and not the better half of a century.

There had not truthfully been a reason for my lack of visits to the dungeons, other than the fact that they were the dungeons. I disliked the dungeons; too much death and gore and that's coming from someone who gained nutrition from drinking the blood of humans. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for some fun and torture; there is something strangely euphoric in ending a life, but when you spend days on end trying to get information out of a human, you can grow tiresome of it. It's not as if they last very long either, the poor fragile things.

I did not venture below to the dungeons of my own free will; it was a command from Aro. Alternatively 'Master' as we were forced to call him in his presence. He had requested I head out to the streets of Volterra to find Heidi, who had been far too long collecting Aro's dinner. He grew rather irritable when he was thirsty. Heidi had an ability to appear undeniably attractive to anyone, despite of age, gender or sexuality. It also made it very easy for her to fetch our lunch.

I turned right down yet another narrow and musky corridor; on either side of me, there were lined cages with doors made from the strongest metal known to man. However, it had been many years since the Trio had ordered the imprisonment of one of our own; personally, I believed that Aro enjoyed killing so much. Either way, it did not affect my existence.

Finally, I reached the stone archway that lead to a spiralling staircase; I passed through without hesitation and shot from the bottom of the curving stairwell that met me to the top in less than a second. Reaching back, I pulled my cloak tighter around my throat and lifted the over-sized hood to cover my face, and then I stepped out into the bright light of the sun.

It was midday; this meant the sun was at its highest peak above the clock tower and perhaps the worst time of day for out kind to be outdoors. I did not worry, I knew that if anyone did see the way our skin glistened like diamonds under the light of the sun, they would be dead before they had a chance to accumulate a coherent thought. I turned down the alleyway, trying my best to stick to shadows. Thankfully, I did not have to search very far before I caught Heidi's scent and spotted her heading towards the clock tower with a dozen or two absent-minded humans on her tail.

She was stunning, even I had to admit, with her curling caramel locks and her luscious lips painted red. The same shade as her eyes. She spotted me heading towards her and smiled, "Heidi," I cooed, "We were beginning to wonder if you'd lost your way."

Heidi fluttered her eyelashes at me, "Not at all, dear sister, I was just making some friends." It was as if the human had not even realized I was there. They stood in a circle around Heidi, staring at her with wild and lustful eyes, every one of them. "I've invited them home for lunch." I wrapped my arm through her own and together we lead the humans back to the palace.

Our home was just that: a palace. Unfortunately, for the countless tourists who visited Volterra, they only got to see a small part of it. The majority of our home was underground, in a system of tunnels and secret passageways forged thousands of years ago by our rulers, unbeknownst to the generations of humans that lived above us that their city had never been theirs in the first place.

Once back inside the familiar marble walls, Heidi and I lead the human crowd through the extravagant halls of our home and towards the Throne Room.

As we walked, I noticed the humans all gasping, their mouths hanging open in little 'O's of shock. I often forgot how beautiful our home was until I saw how it looked from a fresh pair of eyes. The place was built from white marble and stone, the furniture ancient and invaluable. The walls were lined with portraits of the Trio's closest 'friends' as Aro liked to call them. They were not friends, the Trio did not have friends; they had favourites and the majority of them were, of course, Gifted. Aro liked to keep note of the vampires he had met in his time who possessed abilities he could one day use. For some unknown reason, he continued to allow most of them to live their own lives peacefully. Personally, I believed Aro was frightened. Frightened that if he just begun taking Gifted vampires and had Chelsea, whose ability was to influence the emotional ties between individuals, sway their loyalty in the direction of him and his guard then others out there may question the Volturi's rule and it could only take a handful of rebellious vampires to stir an uprising.

Wouldn't that be something?

Our masters throne room was located in the highest turret of the palace, the entrance- two large and old mahogany doors - was blocked by Felix and Demetri, two of my highest ranking Guards.

Felix was a brute of a man, made up entirely of muscle and tedious thoughts. He looked like the Incredible Hulk's albino cousin, wearing a badly made black curly wig. Demetri, however, was his complete opposite: a few inches taller than myself, much leaner and lankier than the other Guard's and with a crooked smile I wished I could tear off. He stepped forward and flashed Heidi and I his stupid smile. He ran a hand through his sand-coloured hair and fluttered his unusually long eyelashes that framed his eyes of deep burgundy. Heidi's doing, I realized.

"Heidi," He greeted her, trying to sound more masculine than he usually did. He had been turned in his late teens, meaning that his voice and appearance was still boyish in a way yet he refused to let this affect his attempts at mating with Heidi. Little did he know Heidi favoured Felix.

"Gentleman," She nodded to them, "I've brought lunch."

In a blur of black, Demetri was standing behind the bewildered humans, his pupils dilating at the scent. "Mhmm, my, they do seem rather juicy."

Heidi just gave him her flirtatious smile. "Indeed."

Slut.

"Enough. Open the doors." I demanded. Demetri, of course, had tried to mate with me upon my addition to the guard. I'd contemplated the idea for a time but it was not long until I discovered just how aggravating he was. Since my ascension to Overseer, he had stopped trying. He nodded once to me and headed towards the doors. He also would never refuse an order, not if he wanted to keep his head.

Felix and Demetri opened the doors with an echoing creak and Heidi and I lead the humans to their death.

As we walked further into the throne room, I heard the gasps and shocked voices of the human crowd. The Throne room was by far the most spectacular room in the entire palace. A large, circular three-story chamber.

The room was lit only by the slits in the stonewalls and the large, glass dome skylight overheard. It let enough light in during the day to illuminate the room but not enough to reveal our true nature and set us ablaze as shimmering diamonds statues. The entire room was made of pearly white marble and stone, columns dotted around held up the stone arches and timbers of the roof, statues that were chiselled by the most talented of artists to ever exist; Michelangelo's David failed in comparison to some of them.

The Throne room had archways that branches off to other, smaller rooms furnished with expensive chairs, tables, ancient tapestries that hung on the walls and dozens and dozens of bookcases, filled to the rim with giant, leather-bound tomes. Some of which pre-dated the English language; Aro's private collections. Although the throne room was decorated with only three lone furnishings, the thrones themselves, on which our master sat when acting as magistrates to our kind. The thrones were carved and shaped for each of our masters, made from polished dark oak wood and the finest carving I'd seen in centuries.

From atop a raised dais, the Trio sat patiently. Heidi and I lead the humans down the marble steps and into the slight depression in the centre of the room, none of which had noticed the drainage grate.

Aro was old, older than most of us, and it showed. Not in wrinkles nor age spots like elderly mortals but in the almost chalk-like texture of his porcelain skin, in the way he seemed to belong to the room, like it had been built around him, to suit him; and of course in his eyes. There was wisdom in his dark eyes, wisdom and power hidden behind that milky haze. The corner of his mouth twitched up when he saw me following Heidi inside.

"I apologise for my tardiness, master," Heidi said, "I was making some rather interesting friends." Aro waved off her apology.

"Apologise not, my dear, I can see you truly have." He might as well have licked his lips, but I could not blame him, the humans did look delicious. They stood, still staring. Some of them glanced around the chamber, snapping photographs of the dais and the Trio atop it like they were still visiting tourist destinations. Aro simpered down at me from his throne atop the dais, Caius and Marcus sat on either side of him. "La mia bella rosa, Isabella."

"Maestro," I replied, bowing to him. Aro spoke a lot of Italian, I figured it was best to learn the language, if only to please him and get in his good books. It also sounded nice, to hear him say my name in the way he did. My name was Isabella. Just Isabella. I had a last name once, I suppose, but it had been a long time since I had remembered it. I'd forgotten my name prior to Aro turning me, I'd only remembered my first name. Isabella.

I then turned to Caius and bowed, then again to Marcus. In spite of my position as Overseer the Guard and my close personal relationship with Aro, it seemed that Caius and Marcus― more so Caius, really. Marcus just stared gormlessly into the corner of the room, like he hadn't a clue where he was or what he was doing. I half expected venom to start dripping from his lips like drool― had taken a disliking to me. A disliking or distrust. Aro looked at me and saw pride and gratification whereas Caius's eyes darkened when I stepped into the room, narrowing in on me like he was just itching for an excuse to give the order and have my head ripped from my body.

I'd have liked to see him try.

If I didn't take his head for attempting, Aro certainly would.

Aro and I had a special kinship, more so than he did with any of his other precious children and no one quite understood why. I did not know why, although Aro had always taken a strong liking to me from the moment he turned me. He had been there from the start. I had been a terrified and violent newborn and Aro had taken me aside to his personal chambers, sat me down on his lush mattress and explained to me what I had become. Back then, things had been blurry, incomprehensible yet Aro explained who I had been as a human and why he turned me.

I'd assumed I'd gain some fragments of my lost memory upon ascending to vampirism but if anything my mortal life had faded even more so, slipping further and further into the tiny part of my subconscious that had once been human.

However, I did remember little of my human life. Mostly how I died. I had been a handmaiden to a wealthy lady of noble birth sometime during the early eighth century; I'd fought back when the master of the house had tried to rape me. He'd thrown me against the bed and pinned me there, he'd hit me and bruised me, made me bleed. I'd decided in that moment no man would ever lay a hand on me again, so I reached across the bed to the tray of food I'd set down for the master, snatched up the knife placed atop it and I plunged the knife deep into his throat. I'd pushed past flesh and muscle and dragged the blade harshly across his throat, spilling his hot blood over the both of us, staining my white dress. It had gone in my mouth (It tasted much different back then) and I'd laughed as he fell to the ground, crawling for the door, clutching to the wound I'd made.

I could have left it there, but instead I threw myself atop him and dove that same knife into his back repeatedly until he stopped moving, until I was entirely drenched in his blood. The guards had heard his yells and come charging into the room with their swords drawn but by this time I had already given up on life. They forced open the door just as I threw myself from the tower balcony. My last human memory is that of the sun setting beyond the horizon before the world went black.

The next thing I knew, I was in hell and burning for my crime. That was what I had believed at the time, being a "true" Christian girl. It was only later when I awoke in a cool underground chamber with Aro standing over me that I discovered the truth about my hell. He'd heard my laughter as I leapt from that tower and saw me plunging to the ground. By chance, his curiosity peaked and he'd wondered why I had been laughing as I plummeted to my ultimate demise, so he'd come to see me.

"I stood by your broken body, watching you bleed out, and decided I wished to know why you were so eager to die." Aro said as he retold the story that day. He told me how he'd knelt down and touched my cheek. In that moment he'd expected to understand who I had been and every thought I'd ever had, though instead he came up short. Nothing. He'd thought I had died at first but he could still hear the slow beating of my heart. He had a thought, a risky one but he'd taken that risk and he'd bitten me.

It had been not long after my transformation he identified my Shield and personally aided me in controlling it and adapting to life as a vampire; in some ways, I was Aro's personal project. In one instance, he even referred to me as the daughter he always wanted. This did not plead well with Jane, one of the Volturi's older and somewhat salient Guard members.

Since then Aro and I had been like family, of course we had to keep up pretences with the others, although our kinship was no secret.

The rest was history. Aro and I had been the best of companions; maybe even close enough to use the word 'friend' but there had always been that underlining knowledge between the two of us. That he was the master and I his humble servant, that no matter the time that passed and no matter how close he and I got, he was always my master and if I ever dared to cross him to an unforgivable extent, he would burn me.

I still liked to believe I earned Aro's friendship and my position as Overseer due to my strong, powerful, passionate and overall respectful (not to mention ridiculously hot) demeanour. But I was not gullible. I knew there was another, more obvious reasons behind Aro's kindness and his decision to appoint me the role. I had been gifted, you see, with an ability many would die for! I was a shield. A mental shield and it had been amazing. My mind was impenetrable to any form of a psychic attack; no one could invade my mind unless I allowed for it. Jane had the raw ability of pain inducement. She could inflict an illusion of absolute and intolerable pain that incapacitates them. Rumour had it that few of the unfortunate souls to fall victim to Jane's burning gaze left them mentally instable, scarred to their souls. Fortunately, for I, my built-In shield protected me from her wrath.

My shield also gave me a sense of privacy, something no other guard member had but each of the others craved. Aro had a gift too; a single touch and every thought you had ever had in your entire life, entire existence now belonged to him. He felt what you felt, he heard what you heard, even smelt what you smelt. There were no secrets among the Volturi, not when your Master had access to every impulsive thought.

"Thank you for ensuring Heidi had not forgotten her way." Aro's voice brought me back to today. He liked to play with his words; we all knew Heidi had not forgotten her way. It was as if Aro liked to play the part of a human. Strange.

"It was no matter." I nodded a thank you.

"Please," he said, "Take one of our guests for yourself? If memory serves, you have not fed in almost a fortnight?" It was true, I'd left it long this time and my throat did burn so at the look of the humans, at the idea of tearing their throats apart with my teeth. Aro seemed to notice the look of hunger in my eyes and beckoned towards them. "My gift," he echoed. I nodded and approached the crowd of humans, inspecting them. There were men, women and children of all ages standing before me. I allowed myself a smell and tried my absolute hardest to restrain myself. In the end, I took the hand of a rather yummy looking gentleman with dark eyes and stubble across his chin. He by far was the most delicious, in more ways than one.

"Thank you, master." I bowed and turned towards the doors, taking the human with me.

"Oh, Isabella..."

"Yes, Master?"

"I have a matter of business we must discuss-"

A lot growl reverberated from beyond Caius' bared teeth. Caius looked handsome but in a sly way. His fair hair hung by his ears, straight as a ruler, his smile was crooked to the extent it looked almost as if one side of his face had gone numb, and his eyes. His eyes held no emotion but rage. "Must we deal with this now?"

Aro titled his head towards Caius, the curtain of jet-black hair slowly brushed down the side of his shoulder. "Brother...you seem agitated this afternoon, what bothers you?"

"I am parched." Was his only reply and Aro rolled his eyes.

"I will call for you at sundown. We will discuss it then." I bowed to him, to his brothers and then spun towards the exist, practically dragging the human along with me. As I ascended the marble steps out of the room, I heard Aro's voice. "Now...let us feed."

That's when the humans started to scream and the sound of bloodshed was all I could hear.

Hours later, I felt deeply relaxed. I'd taken the human Aro had gifted me and lead him back down to the dungeons, to one of cells hidden away. The hypnotizing affect of Heidi's gift had worn off and he started to gather a sense of reason and logic, realizing that their tour had no only gotten lost but that they were in grave danger. He'd panicked, and then tried to run. Usually, we like to hunt. We were predators, hunting was what we did, but in that moment I could only wonder what business Aro had in store for me and I found very little pleasure in my kill.

Even as I pounced, straddled the human man and took him to the ground, even as my sharp teeth tore through his fragile flesh, burst through his jugular, and tasted the sweetness of his blood, all I could do was think of Aro. I had been right before, he had been delicious and thanks to the intoxicating scent of his blood, I had eventually calmed enough to enjoy my feed.

I'd disposed of the body through one of the many metal grates and listened as his body fell to the cavern hidden deep below the palace, miles into the darkness.

Since then I had returned to my chambers, bathed and changed and spent the remainder of my free time ensuring everyone else was doing their jobs. After I was sure, I had no issues to deal with nor important information I needed to disclose, I found myself in the library. Knowledge was something we vampires as a species urged for. I had yet to meet one of our kind who had not travelled the world in search of lost secrets and wonders. It sounded like a dream. I had read every book in the library and there was thousands and thousands of books, read the majority of them a few times over the years but I found these days my interest in reading was fading.

My unchanging home and everything within its walls was boring me more so with each passing day. I wondered how long I could go without luxuries of consistent amusement. Something I was in dire need of. A thought crossed my mind

Why not just leave?

Just pack up my belongings and leave in the light of mid-day. It would take me a while to evade the assassins the Trio would certainly send after me but with my shield, I would've been protected. I could have seen the world. But what a life that would be, to be on the run from those you once called family, for all eternity? Not only that but I would have had to live with the knowledge that I abandoned Aro without warning or reason. After all he had done for me and for me to abandon, him, for me to even think about abandoning him, was coming close to treason.

"Isabella?" A chipper, childlike voice called through the halls. I twitched — not a voice I wanted to hear when I was contemplating the possibility of leaving. If Aro ever discovered a way to read my thoughts our bond of friendship would most certainly break. but shatter under his fist.

"On my way, master." I replied to the summon. My voice echoed down the hall. We were on opposite sides of the castle, he was in his tower whereas I was wandering down a hall four levels below him. That was another reason I disliked my home, the privacy, or lack thereof. It was hard to find any quiet when you could hear everything around for miles. Everything.

A heartbeat later, I stood by the giant mahogany doors, beyond which my masters were waiting for me. I tried to shake away the thoughts I'd been having, of leaving this place and possibly travelling this pathetic excuse of a world we live in. Aro would not be pleased if he discovered the truth. I slacked my shoulders, flung open the wooden doors and strolled in lazily.

You could tell they had fed. The purplish bruises surrounded their black eyes had vanished, their skin had an almost silver undertone glow in the dying embers of daylight and their eyes, their eyes had turned from coal black to glistening orbs of rubies. I hadn't had a chance to look in the mirror since feeding but I knew I looked good too, I felt good. My muscles, which had previously been tense, were now loose and relaxed, my vision was clearer and burn in my throat had subsided- for now.

"Isabella..." Aro sang,

"Masters, you called for me." I said with a bow. Bowing had just become second nature, something we did as we entered the Throne room and left it; a show of our respect.

"Yes. We have a task for you, Isabella..." Aro said. I cocked my head, waiting patiently - or so it would appear. "The time has come for you to leave us again, I'm afraid. We have many enemies across the world, many of those whom deem themselves worthy opponents to us and threaten to destroy the unwavering peace we have worked so hard to build. "

"And you would like for me to eradicate these threats."

"It is what you do best."

It was true, It was what I did best.

Aro had many enemies; old enemies from his long but not forgotten past and new enemies (usually Newborn's) who believed that had a choice when it came to the law. That since they had ascended into vampirism that they were free from rules and obligations. This was not the case and It was the Volturi's job to ensure they were reminded of our laws, reminded of them or punished for breaking them.

It was usually the latter.

He was correct before, I was the best at what finding our threats and dismissing of them. I wish I could say that I was the best simply because of my large variety of combat skills and knowledge of various martial arts, but - like most other perks I had in life - it was because of my gift, it shielded me from any unknown abilities these Newborn's may have possessed. My shield and my skills, as well as my proper and loyal decorum to our family, made me the perfect candidate for the job.

"Do you accept?" He asked as if I had a choice in the matter.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure."

Aro's smiled widened and surprisingly, he rose from his throne and slowly descended the dais, heading towards me. He held out his hand and I realized what it was. A sheet of yellowish parchment, folded into four to disclose the information written upon it. "Your targets and their current locations." He answered at my raised brows.

I did not have to ask, I knew that Aro had eyes and ears on all corners of the globe. "Thank you, Master."

He titled his head and looked at me with a look of what I could only call longing, "We will miss you, won't we brothers?"

Marcus did not look our way. Caius bared his teeth. I was overwhelmed with love.

"I shall return at the earliest convenience." I told him and then surprisingly Aro opened his arms and embraced me. I was taken by surprise as Aro never publically displayed his affections for me. He never came close to me when we were around others. I felt the warmth of his hard body, pressing against my own, felt his chin on the top of my head and his spider-like fingers running through my hair.

"Promettimi, Isabella, si tornerà?" Translated to English this meant: Promise me, Isabella, you will return?

It took every ounce of self-control I had to hide my frown. It was as if Aro had been able to read my mind, like he truly was worried I would not return to the Volturi given the choice.

I smiled and pulled back and looked him in the face, my master. "I promise."

The moment the doors closed behind me and I was around the corner, I lifted the sheet of parchment and unfolded it, taking in the names and locations of my those Aro wished dead. There were seven names on the list and this took me by surprise, there was usually a great deal more. One vampire in Canada, one in London, two in New York, two in Seattle and the last in a town in Clallam County, Washington, by the name of Forks-

I stopped breathing and physically halted in the middle of the hall, as if paralysed by the name. Forks. I did not understand it, nor did I truly want to but something within me lurched at the name of this town. I was almost one hundred percent certain I had never heard of this town before, never visited it during my travels; then how did I know of it and why did it have such an unusual affect over me?

I glanced down at the list a third time, reflecting the words pensively.

Forks. It was so familiar yet so distant.

I realized after a second that I was being immature, that I may have overheard Aro discussing it with his brothers at some point, it seemed like the logically explanation if he had an enemy in the area. I scolded myself for such nonsense thinking and continued my walk to my chambers with a smile on my face.

Perhaps this was my chance to finally get out of Volterra and have some fun.

FanWriter's Note:

Hello everyone. Welcome to 'Remember a love long lost' my newest story here on Fanfiction. A little insight to this story: Isabella the Overseer of the Volturi Guard and Aro's most loyal friend in the world. She has been a vampire for many centuries now and has enjoyed it but as time passes, Isabella wants nothing more than to get out and see the world but fears the consequences of doing so. Though now given freedom to leave her home and hunt down Aro's enemies, Isabella expects to have an amusing time until her travels take her to Forks, where she discovers more about the world and who she really is.

I hope you enjoy this story and the direction I intend on taking it. I hope to read many reviews on your opinions and thoughts, as they do mean a lot to me and do help. Thank you, and enjoy.

~FanWriter Asher~