Chapter One

Love sucks.

It's overrated. Too complicated. And experiencing heartbreak over and over wasn't worth it. I had sworn off it at fourteen, after having my heart shattered to dust. I decided I was going to just have fun instead.

And boy, what fun I've had.

"Pretty basic secretary work," the striking blonde, Heidi, explained, "Answer the phone. Take and deliver messages. Point guests in the right direction. Oh, and mind your Masters."

I nodded, my red curls bouncing with the movement.

She smiled, just a hint of menace, "Do as you're told and you just might get what it is you want."

"Yes, signora."

The blonde walked away. I glanced around the desk. Though it was quite large, the set up was pretty simple. A computer for scheduling the tours. A phone to one side, a notepad and pens on the other. There was also a silver tray, used for delivering messages to the Masters. I'd been advised to use proper spelling and grammar. If I was unsure, look it up. I hoped I wouldn't need to interact with them much, but knew it would be inevitable.

I swept the skirt of my dress under me before sitting. Not two seconds later, Heidi had reappeared out of nowhere, "One other thing that was just brought to my attention. Master Aro is currently entertaining a human guest. You will be required to keep her company at certain times. Understood?"

"Yes, signora."

She disappeared as quickly as she had come. A human guest? Why on earth would any of them be keeping a human?

The first few days were quite boring, actually. Just normal, mundane days at the office, pretty much. On day four, I was once again approached by Heidi, "Master Aro has requested your company for his companion. Follow me."

I had to stop myself from asking about my duties here. Who would answer the phone and schedule the tours? Do as you're told. I stood, smoothing my dress, and followed her to the elevator. Heidi jabbed the button for one of the upper floors and we ascended in silence. Once at our destination, the doors opened and she ushered me out.

"Last door at the end of the hall," she informed me before being concealed by the doors again. I set off, the clicking of my heels echoed loudly off the bare walls. This part of the building was so depressing. The electricity ended at the elevator, requiring oil lamps and candles to poorly light the interior. But vampires didn't need much light to see, I supposed. They were meant for hunting at nighttime, after all. I would have hated to be a human prisoner forced to reside in this wing, though.

I reached the door and knocked. No answer. She had to be in there. Was I supposed to just go in? I shrugged and opened the door. The room was huge and surprisingly bright thanks to the large window. A small table, some wardrobes, and a second door were to the left. A desk and a few living chairs to the right. Directly in the center of the room was an equally huge bed, which is where she sat, looking bored as hell. Her face was rather average. Slightly thicker, but still well groomed, eyebrows suited her oval face. Dark brown curls, that put my own curls to shame, hung almost to the middle of her back. Her blue eyes stared at me.

"Hello," I greeted, closing the door, "I'm Rosetta, the secretary."

She almost smiled, "Ashley."

"Oh," I was surprised by her accent, "You're American?"

She nodded. I had expected her to be local. Then, she must have been picked out of one of the tour groups that came through. Why, though? I learned quickly that her name wasn't spelled "l-e-y" like I had assumed. It was spelled "l-e-i-g-h" to confuse people. It was different and rather pretty, though. She didn't talk much. And when I asked why she was here with Master Aro she stopped speaking all together. I quickly changed the subject. Which is to say, I began to babble.

"Purple is such a fantastic color. I buy as much of my things in whatever shade of purple I can." "I grew up on a horse farm. My parents bred show horses and I used to present them. Some day I want to buy a house in the country and have six of them." "This one time, I was playing tennis with my brother. Yeah, I couldn't hit the ball for nothing." "I broke my elbow once, when he pushed me out of a tree." "I wonder where Master Aro bought these sheets. They're incredible."

Over the next few days Ashleigh seemed to warm up to me a bit. I found she was right about my age, she was twenty and I was nineteen. She was from Colorado and was studying art. One day during dinner she was kind enough to show me some of her drawings. I recognized the landscape, "Isn't Volterra beautiful?"

"Yes, very much. I love it," Ashleigh had replied. She and some of her classmates had come to tour Italy, as part of a group activity. To study the lovely paintings and architecture. Volterra was meant to be their last destination. And for almost all of them, it had been. Ashleigh shook at the memory. She hadn't seen much, which she was grateful for, but she heard enough. Apparently Aro had gotten to her immediately, while the others fed off her friends. She then said Aro bashed her head against the stone wall to render her unconscious. Probably an act of mercy in more than one way.

As awful as her experience had been, I was actually happy she was here. I liked her, and I could use a friend or two in this place. I was originally from Northern Italy. Everyone here was a stranger to me. I was looking forward to visiting her again the following day.

On my walk back to my desk, I encountered a group of three men. The Masters, no doubt. I had never met them personally, but I had been shown a picture so that I knew who they were. I immediately stopped and curtsied, "Masters."

The one dark haired man, the one who looked terribly sad, said nothing but smiled slightly. The other dark haired man ignored me completely. But the blond one... I accidentally made eye contact with him and I expected him to snap at me. He didn't. Anger wasn't even part of his expression. If anything he seemed...intrigued. The man held my gaze until he was too far down the hall. Something about the encounter felt very strange.