[ Chapter Fourteen—Aro of the Volturi ]

Slowly, the inky black nothingness crept away and I was left gasping on the ground. It was overwhelming—the feeling of being at peace only to be exposed to the harshness of reality.

Groaning, I rolled over, my eyes squinted as my pupils readjusted themselves to the brightness of the world. After moments of squabbling about, I was finally able to pull myself together and sat up.

The ground was covered by a huge rug alike to the previous room I was in, and I had no doubts that cold stone laid underneath. I furrowed my brows when I saw that I was in between two towering bookshelves.

Okay, let me say this, the only library I have been to was the one on campus at my high school and the university library. Both of those instances were times that I can count on a single hand, Drake was the one who always stopped by the library for me.

Even then, neither the crummy high school library or the slightly better university library had anything against the gargantuan library that I found myself trapped in. Just the shelves alone were two stories high, and I found myself wondering how they got the books from the top shelf down.

Slowly but surely, I made my way to the end of the shelves and found myself met with the sight of many other hallways of towering bookshelves. There was a staircase that appeared to go up to four stories, the fact that this library was four stories high was daunting.

Frowning, I continued to wander around the library, catching sight of many desks, couches, and other seating areas. It was only after I determined that I was not on the first level of the library, but rather in a basement of sorts that I walked up the stairs.

Alike to what I had seen of the castle so far, there were no windows in the library leaving the entire thing to be lit by chandeliers. It was because of this that the library had a dim and slightly creepy vibe to it, perfect setting for the Volturi.

Walking around the new level, I rolled my eyes when I saw it was mostly the same as the previous level. The only difference was that there was a large area of shelves that housed scribes rather than actual books. It was this that once again reminded me of just how old the vampires in this coven were.

My shoes made little noise as I walked along the carpet, trying to remember the events which even led me here in the first place. So Caius and I brawled, Caius pussied out and ran, I had another mental breakdown, and then... fucking Alec.

I huffed in frustration, looking for an exit but once again coming up empty-handed. What the hell? Who even needed all these books when there was the internet anyway?

It was only as I growled and turned another corner that I found another desk area. Except for this time, there was someone sitting at the desk.

Long raven hair that was half tied back, pristine black suit, papery skin.

Aro Volturi sat with a large book in his grasp, his bloody eyes focused on the pages. I froze, looking behind me and debating whether or not I should turn around.

I had barely taken one step back before Aro was calling me out, "please," he motioned to the chair across from him without looking up from his book, "take a seat."

"Hmm," I nodded, deciding that I probably would not be finding the way out without him anyway.

Walking over, I pulled the chair out from the table and sat down across the vampire senior. Leaning back in my chair, I pulled my legs to my chest watching as Aro did not take his gaze off the book and continued reading.

Being around the Cullens, I watched as most of them read. However, when they read it was different from how Aro was, they actually read at a vampire's pace making them finish a book within minutes.

Aro was choosing to read at a human's pace, his eyes slowly trailing over each and every word. I was not sure what language the huge book was written in, but I knew that it certainly was not English.

It was only after ten minutes of being ignored by Aro that I grew bored. Neither he or I made the first word, and I was slowly getting the idea that he did not even want to speak.

Rolling my eyes, I pushed my chair back and began to get up. However, I was stopped by Aro holding up one of his hands, though his eyes still did not leave his book.

"Oh, sorry..." I trailed sarcastically, sitting back in my spot, "I thought you had forgotten about me."

Aro's lips quirked into a smile as he finally closed his book and brought his eyes up to meet mine. For a split second, I wished he had remained looking away as staring into his red eyes made me incredibly uncomfortable.

"Of course not—" I did not let him finish his sentence before I was crossing my arms and cutting him off.

"Why were you reading at a human's pace?" Aro rose a brow, seemingly surprised by my offhand question.

However, he tilted his head and gave me an answer, "I prefer to read slower so that I may savor the book. Caius and Marcus do this occasionally as well," Aro stated in an airy tone causing me to purse my lips and narrow my eyes.

"Oh," I spoke, looking away from his eyes and somewhere to the right of me, "the Cullen's don't do that." I am not sure why I added it, but I felt like I had to.

"Don't they?" Aro's eyes twinkled in what seemed to be amusement.

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my legs while resting my head on my knees in a tired manner. Everything was beginning to catch up to me and the exhaustion was taking over. Whatever the hell Alec's power did was not the equivalent to sleep as I was still fully conscious.

"Is your room to your liking, Jaclyn," the way Aro said my name caused a shiver to travel down my spine, my gaze lazily flicking up to meet the leader.

"You mean the room I tore apart?" I deadpanned causing Aro's smile to become more forced.

"Ah, yes about that..."

"It was kind of old," I cut him off.

"The room?"

"Yes the room, it was old and looked as though it had not been used for over a century."

"Jaclyn," Aro stopped me firmly, myself only raising a brow, "I would prefer it if you would not tear apart my rooms in this castle, though we do have a large abundance of money, we would rather not waste it on superficial matters that could easily be prevented."

"Maybe don't trap me in the room then," I rolled my eyes earning a frown from Aro.

"It surely was not our intention to make you feel trapped; however, you must understand that based on the..." he trailed off in an almost embarrassed tone of voice, "...circumstances, we could not allow you to run rampant."

"And by circumstances, you mean forcing me here against my will otherwise you'll kill my family?" I smiled in a mocking manner causing Aro to cringe.

"Don't you think it is a tad brash to word it like that?"

"Nope,"

"How about the castle then?" Aro seemed hopeful, "surely you must enjoy the castle!"

"Yeah, maybe if I liked rotting in decrepit tombs," I snarked causing Aro to deflate.

Suddenly, before I could blink, Aro reached across the large wooden desk and grasped my hand. I tried to jerk away, but his grip was painfully strong.

"What the hell?" I growled, not liking how cold he was compared to me.

While it did not bother me when it was one of the Cullen's, it definitely did bother me when it was some old ass King.

"Hmm," Aro seemed amused, his eyes far off and I had no doubt he was shifting through all my memories as though it were a book. "It would appear..." his eyes lost their trance-like state and zeroed in on my own, "that I cannot see anything preceding the point at which you were turned."

I am vaguely sure that preceding meant before.

"Thank God," I muttered finally able to tug my hand out of Aro's grasp which made him frown. "Now stop bullshitting me and tell me why the hell I am here!" I stood up so fast that the chair I was sitting on went backward.

Aro chuckled, folding his hands together in front of him. "How I do so find your angry personality amusing..."

My eyebrows furrowed, my lips moving to mouth the word 'angry'.

"...it is in your best interest that you perhaps—oh how should I say this?" Aro looked thoughtful, his fingers moving to trace his cold lips, "...pushing Caius, yes, it will be in your favor to stop making Caius angry. He was very upset after the whole dispute you two had, that was the reason he left, you see, he did not want to chance killing you..."

Everything froze.

"That's why he left?" My voice sounded hoarse. "Because he didn't want to fuckin' kill me? Where the hell is he? I may be a lot of things, but mama did not raise no bitch, I will take him on single-handedly and win with my eyes close! Where is he?" I demanded, my voice rising while Aro cringed.

"Okay, perhaps I should have stayed silent about that," Aro sighed as I scowled, turning away.

"Whatever, boomer,"

"Jaclyn..." a warning tone.

"Well, tell me what you expect!" I put my hands on my hips in frustration. "I would be dead by your hands if it were not for this mate bond! You are all horrible, my kind is extinct because of you!"

Aro stood in a blur and was back in a matter of seconds, but this time he dropped a huge book on the table in front of us.

"There is a reason behind the extinction you speak of, child..." Aro chided, me only rolling my eyes, but listening nonetheless. Carlisle had been unable to give me much information on my kind, but I was betting that Aro would be able to give me more.

Aro's pale hand reached out, his large fingers flipping through the pages and stopping at the image of a beautifully drawn woman. There was no color to the image, but it was clear her hair had been darker, it was very long stopping at her buttcrack, her body very much naked.

She was standing in the middle of a forest, staring at a full moon as though it were the most important thing in her life.

"Werewolves, from what we know on the outside, were much like vampires in the essence they were bewitching, heavenly to gaze upon," he flipped the page, coming to the image of a handsome man standing equally as naked next to the beautiful woman, "everything about them was perfect physically..."

I stared at the image swearing that the woman was looking straight back at me. Aro turned the page.

"But also alike to vampires, it was simply a mask to conceal the monster hidden within," the page showed an image of a great wolf, bigger than even Jacob. The wolf made the humans screaming around look tiny in comparison, blood ran from the beast's lips, its fur matted with the dreaded stuff.

"Werewolves, during the moon, were the most fearsome ferocious beasts we had ever seen. Under the influence of the full moon, strength, speed, senses, all of it surpasses that of even a vampire. They were unstoppable—unlike many believe—it was not a pack of werewolves needed to take down a vampire, rather it was a group of vampires needed to take down a single werewolf during the full moon."

The page flipped, and the image of the gargantuan wolf surrounded by whom I could only assume to be vampires met my eyes. It was as though the image came alive, I could practically hear the ferocious growls from the werewolf, see the vampires swarming it.

"On the days and nights that were not a full moon, werewolves were mostly unable to shift making their human form no stronger nor quicker than a vampire. That is how werewolves had to be hunted as taking them on during a full moon was only meant for someone who wishes to die."

"Why?" I demanded, Aro, tilting his head as I interrupted his story. "What did werewolves ever do to you? Not only that, but I have been told by the Cullen's multiple times that I am perfectly tame and content during the full moon."

"You mean to tell me you cannot remember even your own thoughts when the moon is at its fullest?"

"No..."

Aro looked to me as though he had just made his point. "Exactly, werewolves are unable to control their own actions when they are at the peak of their danger. If what the Cullen's claim is true—then you are the only known werewolf to be unaggressive on the night of a full moon."

I was silent, mulling over Aro's words as he once again flipped the page. This time the image was of the beautiful woman once more, except this time it appeared to be morning and she was surrounded by the dead bodies of many humans and vampires.

Even as her naked form was covered in blood and her long hair matted together, she was still astoundingly gorgeous.

"While we may call them werewolves, they always referred to themselves as Children of the Moon. Each enchanting for every night and day of the month except one."

Aro flipped the page from the beautiful woman, the page now showing two separate groups of people. On one side, there was the same woman among a group of equally as gorgeous men and women. On the other side appeared a group of much paler people, their features equally as magnifying but much sharper.

It was apparent, vampires and werewolves. They appeared to meet during the night, except the moon was only half full. They were talking, that much was obvious based on the way the vampire's hands were up.

"Both sides attempted to speak; however, it was soon clear that our species were much too opposing to truly get along." The page flipped to one of the vampires and werewolves turning their back on each other.

"The Children of the Moon were very secretive though," the page once again flipped, this time to a man hiding behind a tree, "especially to vampires. While vampires were much more open about our nature and laws, the Children of the Moon were cryptic and surreptitious. It is because of this that other than basic facts and simple lore there is not much known on the Children of the Moon," Aro flipped the page, his red eyes gleaming as they came across the same beautiful woman kneeling with her hands up toward an empty moon.

"I am sure you would have found out more of the Children of the Moon had you not driven them into extinction," I hissed, but my words seemed to have no effect on Aro as he ignored me and continued on.

"What we did find was that the Children of the Moon had their own religion, but we were never able to conclude exactly which deity your kind worshipped. Furthermore, while it was more often than not you would find Children of the Moon traveling either alone, as a mated pair, and there were some packs—"

I cut Aro off, my eyebrows furrowed, "how many werewolves were in a pack?"

Aro got a thoughtful look in his eye, seeming to be pondering his answer.

"Well, I believe..." he rubbed his chin, "I don't believe we ever came across a pack with more than fifteen or so members, so not very big in human terms, but much bigger than most vampire covens other than our own."

I nodded, recognizing the fact that the Volturi were rather large in numbers.

"Does everyone live here in the castle?" I questioned causing Aro to shake his head.

"No, we have some recruits posted in other parts of Italy, a few in other countries, and many reside in apartments around the town," Aro explained before our attention went back to his history lesson.

"As I was saying, while no vampires were ever able to get close enough to a pack to truly join in, it was often we overheard celebrations in honor of their deity—"

"So, why the hell would you rid the world of werewolves, huh? Based on what you're saying, apart from the full moon, the Children of the Moon sound perfectly peaceful!"

"Ah, ah, ah..." Aro tittered, waggling a finger in my face. I scowled, wanting to push it away but refrained from doing so. "I was getting to that part. Not all of these celebrations were quite so peaceful, some took place under a full moon where the animal took over. It was not uncommon for the packs to hunt humans: entire villages, cities, and anything in between were torn apart, thousands slaughtered."

I stayed quiet, my mind reeling.

"At first, us vampires minded our own, as Children of the Moon are not our species. However, soon stories began spreading, humans became suspicious of vampires as well, it was only when it began affecting our own laws that we were forced to intervene..."

Aro flipped the page, and my eyes lit up when I recognized an image of himself, Caius, Marcus, three women who I did not know, and only a few other vampires. The image, alike to the rest of the book, had no color and was drawn in an ancient technique of style.

They were standing across from a pack of werewolves in human form, except this time the werewolves were not naked but rather wearing wild-looking clothing.

"We tried to be just and peaceful, we explained that these sorts of celebrations could not continue as they were not only harming us vampires but also themselves; however, the Children of the Moon refused our proposals. At the time, our coven had only been in power over the vampire world for a little over two decades, before us it was the Romanians in power."

"The Romanians had not had as much care with keeping the secret as we do, therefore, the Romanians took little care in the actions of the Children of the Moon. That was also the argument from the Children of the Moon, they claimed the Romanians had never nosed into their business as we had been. Caius was the one—and I remember it quite clearly—" Aro chuckled as though it were a fond memory, "to tell them that we were definitely not the Romanians and we would nose into whatever business we so pleased..."

It was something that I could imagine Caius saying even now. For a split second, I even wanted to laugh; however, I squashed that feeling, reminding myself just how evil Caius was.

"The Children of the Moon did not like that," Aro flipped the page leading to an image of the werewolf pack turning their backs on the Volturi, "and chose to ignore us. We delivered many warnings over the following years, telling them to keep the existence of the supernatural a secret, but they refused to listen," he sighed as though it were a true sadness.

"It was only when the situation became too dire and every human was suspicious that we finally intervened. Caius led a few guard members and traveled to the nearest pack where they would once again propose a pact, but things did not go as planned. As soon as he and the Guard stepped foot onto their territory, they were attacked."

"As we were not planning to be attacked, not many guard members went, simply Caius and four others. They held a vigorous fight, but the numbers simply were not in our favor. Every member died that day except Caius, though he was nearly killed himself. The only reason he survived was that a younger guard member who had wanted to prove himself saved Caius's life by sacrificing himself so that Caius could escape,"

My heart suddenly lurched against my will. I hated it, but I could not stop myself from feeling sad and wanting to pull Caius into my arms.

"Caius never has been the same after that. He made sure each vampire lost that day got a proper ceremony and continues to keep the young guard who saved him—Rorick—in his mind often. From that day forth, Caius made sure to hunt every werewolf we ever crossed paths with. The few packs of Europe were destroyed along with any individual or mated pairs."

"When the Americas were found, we made sure to check for any signs of the Children of the Moon, but we never found any, except you, of course," Aro chuckled at the end, my mind spinning with all this new information.

It was hard because I saw it from both sides. On one side, I was a Child of the Moon, the werewolves that had been driven to extinction were my roots. However, at the same time, I now knew that the Volturi did not hunt the werewolves for no reason.

I was at a loss, I truly did not know how I felt. Perhaps the Volturi were not as bad as I thought? Maybe it was their past which made them strict on laws today? I was not sure, but I did not want to think about it right now.

"Consider it for a while," I was taken out of my thoughts, looking at Aro who was staring at his pocket watch, "I, unfortunately, must leave you and attend court. I will speak with Caius and attempt to make him more understanding of your situation as well."

Aro had suddenly disappeared in a blur of motion, the book of images disappearing too. He was back a moment later leading me to believe he put the book back where it was supposed to be.

"In the meantime, I feel a tour of the castle is in order for you... Demetri!"

I jumped as one of the two vampires who had taken me to my room much earlier appeared. He pushed back his sandy hair, a smile on his face while he addressed Aro.

"Master?" He greeted, his arms folded behind his back, his posture perfect.

Demetri was... hot. But then again, so are all vampires. However, Demetri just had a certain stylish spunk about him that drew eyes.

"Ah yes, hello," Aro smiled, "I wish for you take Jaclyn on a tour of the castle, and please make sure she feels most welcomed..."

"Of course, master," Demetri nodded as Aro turned back to me.

"Jaclyn," I jumped as Aro suddenly took my hands in his, shivering at his cold touch, "I am glad we were able to speak and look forward to our next conversation..." I tilted my head when Aro suddenly left a chaste kiss to both of my hands.

However, I knew it meant nothing, something told me that was just the way Aro was. With another charming smile sent my way, Aro disappeared, the small gust of wind causing my hair to blow.

"so," Demetri spoke once Aro was gone, "shall we?"