Nora's pov

"Jane, dear one, you've returned!"

I peeked over Alice's shoulder at the enchanting soft voice that echoed through the cylindrical room. Sadly I was not blessed with height, my small form hid well behind her when I hunched over but, I could easily be seen if you paid enough attention. I had a feeling, though, that I wasn't going to be the main topic of conversation.

My full attention was drawn to a man in a crisp black suit, who glided forward so gracefully I wouldn't have been surprised if he was floating.

He was very attractive, with strong features that demanded your attention and one of those ethereal faces that was difficult to look away from. His eyes too were unnatural like everyone else's; though they were darker and reminded me of a rich merlot. He carried himself regally, the black cloaked 'guards' that surrounded him moving out of his way respectfully but never straying too far. It was obvious he was in charge.

Those intimidating eyes had a haze over them that the others didn't possess, glinting with madness as a large smile stretched across his translucently pale skin; his long jet black hair pulled away from his face and clipped back. Admiring his beauty, I couldn't help but feel quite inadequate compared to the rest of the room with my plain brown hair, boring grey eyes and dull pedestrian clothing.

Smile stuck on his handsome face, he walked quickly to the young girl, taking her face in his hands and regarding her fondly like a father would a daughter. He kissed her softly on the crown of her head and released her, gliding back a step.

"Yes, Master." She grinned so divinely that I was disturbed, her attitude change throwing me for a loop. One moment she was extremely mature, the next she was acting like the child she clearly was. It all seemed to depend on who she was speaking to, where her loyalties lied. More than anything it was her choice of words that was perhaps the most disturbing thing, I mean master? That's fucking weird, she looks about twelve.

"I brought him back alive, just like you wanted." She said sweetly.

"Oh Jane, you are such a comfort to me." He sighed wistfully with his own smile.

It seemed to take a moment for her words to sink in but when they did I looked to Bella in blind panic. 'What does she mean alive? What the fuck is going on?' It wasn't difficult for her to make out my mouthed words-often we would communicate like this behind our mothers back.

Presumably she opened her mouth to answer but she was stopped when Edward whispered something in her ear, gripping her bicep. My heart sank when she looked at me in shame and lowered her eyes to the floor, leaning into Edward.

I scoffed inaudibly, meeting Edward's sorry freakish eyes with all of the hatred I could muster.

He looked away with shame, less empathetic than my sister. Now, I was really panicking. Am I actually going to die here? I knew something odd was going on, I mean everyone was pale and beautiful and had fucking red eyes for god sake and I knew they weren't all albino's. There was something up with these people but I hadn't thought it was this dire.

I was brought back to the situation at hand when the ethereal man suddenly whipped around to face us, smiling with psychotic joy. I felt slightly scared but...I still found I couldn't help myself, secretly admiring him. It was hard not to. He'd look even more handsome if he wasn't so over the top, so terrifying. All the same I shrunk back behind Alice, reluctant to be seen.

He's gonna see me. I'm fucked.

"Alice, Bella! What a happy surprise this is. How wonderful." He laughed, the falsely joyful sound echoing through the room.

His borderline childish glee was extremely unnerving and I couldn't help but to think that this whole day was just getting weirder and weirder, the weirdest thing at the present moment being his familiarity with Bella.

It made little sense to me that he would know her, as far as I knew we were all here for the first time. This was so out of my comfort zone—it was clear I was the only one here who had no clue what the hell was going on and I was starting to become furious with Alice and Bella for not telling me at least a shred of information.

From what I could see when I tried to look around Alice, he turned and looked at the towering giant of a man to Alice's left, still miraculously unaware I was in the room.

Am I invisible or something?

"Felix, would you please fetch my brothers? They certainly won't want to miss this." He queried as if the tall man had a choice, but his tone was too dismissive to be thought of as nice or kind.

"Yes, Master Aro." Felix nodded obediently, stiffly.

With a disorienting flurry of his cape he disappeared from the room, the only tell of his exit the harsh resounding bang of the double doors behind us.

Honestly? I was getting to be too tired to even think about how abnormal the action was; instead I observed the man who had given the order. It was hard to believe he was the elusive Aro mentioned so many times on our walk down here. He certainly wasn't what I'd been expecting.

"You see now Edward?" He tsked scoldingly to the bronze haired boy, the action aging him minutely. "Aren't you happy I refused your silly, juvenile little request?" His emphasis on the word 'silly' to cement how stupid Edward had been made me laugh internally, especially at the jerks offended frown.

"Yes, Aro, I am extremely grateful." The robed boy ground out hatefully, holding Bella tightly to his side.

"I love happy ending's, they are so rare." Aro sighed softly, turning to face Alice-his eyes filled with many questions.

"How did this happen Alice? I must hear the story from you. Your brother seemed to think you infallible."

Admirably she remained calm under his curious stare, though her dainty hands balled into tight fists showing her unease. "Oh I'm far from it. I seem to cause more problems than I solve them." She flashed him a gleaming smile and he chuckled softly to himself.

"Come now Alice, I've seen what you can do firsthand and it certainly is exceptional." He chided, voicing his praise for her. For some reason jealousy surged through me at his appreciation. The emotion was so out of place, so disconcerting that I felt at war with myself. What was wrong with me?

Any further conversation was halted by the sound of heavy creaking. Aro looked jovially to the left of us all and every head in the room followed.

Felix trailed in first from a side door by the thrones, followed by two more ethereal men who bore resemblance to Aro in their elegance, wearing long billowing black cloaks and radiating power.

One had curly chest length black hair that was a shade lighter than Aro's and was maybe a few years younger, looking about 22 or 23. He drifted into the room like a ghost with a bored expression plastered on his face, his eyes alarmingly empty.

The second man was the oldest of the three, though they all appeared to be in their early to late 20's. He had a hostile scowl on his face that ruined its unique beauty, his wavy platinum hair that fell to his shoulders nearly the same shade as his white skin. He strided along with unwavering confidence and paid the occupants of the room no mind, perfect nose stuck up in the air.

They both had the same misty glass over their eyes that Aro had, but they differed in the shades of red. The blond had bright crimson eyes that glinted like ruby's, filled with disgust when he looked at Bella. I couldn't help but feel conflicted, it was both funny given how annoyed I was with her-but if he continued I had no problem with ripping his perfect eyes from their sockets.

The other man had darker maroon eyes that were closer to black, a dark void. Maybe he did feel nothing like his expression suggested. I wish I could feel nothing right now, would make this whole...disorienting experience a lot easier.

Somehow I still had not been seen, luck apparently on my side when they came nowhere near us. They each took a seat on the end thrones, leaving the middle unoccupied. I concluded it must be Aro's and continued to look over Alice's shoulder.

With the addition of these two other enchanting men it made me want to keep hidden even more, danger rolled off the trio in waves. I was so frightened that I had no qualms to keep using Alice as a human shield, she was working well enough anyway and didn't seem to mind.

The sour blond sat upright rigidly with his legs crossed, he reminded me of some snooty aristocrat from the 1800's. His angelic face screwed into an expression of utter disgust as he looked at Alice and Edward and it didn't take a genius to see how much he disliked them.

The other didn't really sit. He slouched tiredly, making no effort to be presentable or respected like the other two, head tilted down to look at the floor and ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Marcus, Caius look! Young Bella is alive! Isn't that marvellous?" Aro smiled enthusiastically, undeterred when he received no response from either of them.

I was going to assume Caius was the man on the right who's scowl seemed to deepen when Bella's name was brought up, sneering at her nastily when her terrified eyes met his. She shrunk into Edward and he gripped her even tighter giving Caius a much less powerful glare in response. His eyes shone with malicious amusement at the pitiful action.

The man on the left- Marcus- didn't even flinch or lift his head when he was addressed. He just continued to sit, so still it was like he was frozen. My heart ached for the poor man, I could tell that he had experienced something awful to act this way.

I stood straight to have one more peek at Aro, but I froze, terror gripping me completely. My body went rigid when my eyes connected with his disbelieving ones.

"Oh fuck..."

All of my breath left me and my poor abused heart started to beat violently in my chest. The gut wrenching pain that had plagued my body miraculously vanished; in it's place I began to feel horribly warm, like I was in a sauna-my whole body tingling.

Those same eyes drew me in, moving quickly as they scanned my face with awe. I gulped and took two steps back in fear. There was no point hiding now, I'd been seen and I'd also stupidly alerted everyone to my presence by my lack of having a filter.

"Bellissima." He breathed, his rich voice deepening significantly. An odd shock ran through my body-his voice reminded me of velvet or silk. It was so smooth. "Siamo stati benedetti, fratelli." He called over his shoulder, not blinking or taking his eyes from me. My chest rose up and down rapidly as my breathing quickened, nerves overcoming me under his intense stare.

Alice dropped her head sighing in defeat; tears nearly gathered in my eyes when she moved from in front of me, leaving me vulnerable to the shocked gazes of the whole room. She moved to be by Bella, who gasped in terror and was only stopped from running to me by Edwards unrelenting grip on her arm.

A scream nearly escaped from my dry throat when a cold hand grasped my wrist, my terrified eyes meeting Marcus's hopeful ones. "It's you."

His voice finally graced my ears. It was slightly hoarse, I assumed he hadn't spoken for a long time but it was a soft and gentle whisper and mortifyingly my body shivered in response.

Freeing my wrist I stumbled back a few steps into something that felt like a brick wall, it's coldness that seeped through my hoodie was a strange relief from how hot my body felt.

Turning reluctantly the hollowness in me all but evaporated, it felt like something inside me had clicked into place. The angry blond man now stood very close to me.

We stared at one another, his face that I'd only seen twisted with disgust was relaxed and slack jawed as he marvelled at me, eyes half lidded. "Tale belleza." He purred huskily, leaning closer and actually sniffing me.

I gasped and stumbled back. "Woah dude, personal space does exist!"

Though I was frightened I was also just really confused. All three were looking at me like I was some miracle that had just happened in front of them, coming to stand in front of me. Each step I took back they took one forward, enamoured with every move I made. I was suddenly reminded of my dreams I'd had not long ago. Of three men circling me and whispering promises to me. Your joking, it's actually them.

I was really hyperventilating now, it felt like no air was getting into my lungs-like I was drowning. I groaned sharply, my ears ringing with a horrible high pitched sound that blocked out any other noise. Black spots appeared in my flickering vision and I could I could just about see the three hypnotising men as they rushed towards me. Before they reached me everything went black; I willingly sank into the familiar void like I was greeting an old friend.