A WEEK AFTER HIS ATTACK ON HIS FORMER BELOVED TURNED ENEMY, ANDREI FOUND HIMSELF GOING ON AN ISLAND. He'd heard through the grapevine that there was a man who had been outspoken about his hatred of one Aro Volturi. How wonderful, a man who was already against what he was against. While it was still yet to be known if this Edward Cullen would be joining him in his stand against the Volturi.

He was still riding off the high that he had harmed her and gotten away with it. This was the first whiff of power he'd gotten in a long time. The last time had been when he'd completely destroyed that stupid little girl. Breaking her was not as good as hurting the real woman who had left him. Left him for a man so much older. Multiple men so much older. What kind of woman would do that but a useless, worthless woman. Well, those men could get his sloppy seconds if they wanted, she had gotten rid of what made her useful. Her womb had been removed, she was never able to give them children.

Andrei was shocked when he approached the large tent and found a visibly pregnant woman.

He was even more shocked when he was thrown out.

"Who the heck are you?" Edward questioned him as he grabbed ahold of his neck and squeezed, fury in his eyes. Well, what else was Andrei supposed to do except come up to him while on this little island, where nobody could find them. "What do you want?"

"I am the one who can free you from the hold of the Volturi," Andrei proposed as the woman inside began to walk away. "Was it you who got her pregnant?"

That gave Edward pause. He released him from his hold and Andrei smirked. This was the way into a Coven. He would have to worm his way into each one to get members onto his side. He saw the vision clearly now. Edward had a gift that would be very useful to him. It would be best to have him on his side, if only for the usefulness. The child could be managed, be molded into what it needed to be.

It wasn't ideal to have another man producing one of these children, but his strength in being able to not kill this woman was admirable enough that he could allow it to slide.

"I didn't think it was possible," Edward admitted as he motioned for him to sit. "You still haven't told me who you are."

"He's Andrei," the pregnant woman revealed who he was. "The one that Carlisle has been worried about."

So, they did know already, even on this remote island that couldn't possibly have any signal. He'd hoped that his efforts here would be easier to obtain due to the nature of their meeting. If things went wrong he figured he could kill Edward and take the woman and raise up her child as his own after she died giving birth. That would be the right thing to do, after all. The child could be powerful, worth more than the broodmare creating it.

"Yeah, well what does he know?" Edward sneered and beckoned her over with his hand. Good, he had control over his woman. If only she were a bit quieter, less of a present object, she would be perfect for the needs of a man. "He's the one who is over there sucking up to Aro because he's convinced that the Volturi give a crap about our family. They only want control over us and what we do."

The things he'd been told about Edward from that blonde woman were true then. A man angry about another man was dangerous indeed. Easier to manipulate, especially with a child in the picture. Andrei could work with this, it would be very simple.

"Aro has been doing this for centuries," Andrei fake-lamented as he shook his head. "I had to work in private due to his previous interference with people I used to know. They are all dead, all because of us working towards our goals."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "What did you want that he hated so much?"

"I desired to have a child of my own," Andrei admitted part of his true plan with as much sorrow as he could muster up. "Aro has always thought that any relationships between human and vampire can only go poorly, but I have seen it work. When it does work, people threaten to go to the Volturi, and thus they break up. It has even resulted in children being unable to be taken care of by their true vampire fathers."

The look on Edward's face was priceless. It so clearly mimicked his own situation that he gave a growl in response. Edward would not be letting go of this child, the child that he has only just figured out exists from the look on his face.

"Why did you want to have a child?" It was his woman who asked this time. Andrei wished that she would just shut up, allow him to talk to her husband like a good woman. "Hybrid children already exist?"

"They do, they do! I have seen it for myself. Now that I have been villainized by my former lover, who agreed to have a child with me, I am unable to contact these children as proof of my oppression." Andrei took a long pause before looking into the eyes of this woman and telling her, "I have always wanted to be a father. I had lost hope, even wondered if I could adopt a human child, but I was always shut down by the Volturi and their allies. When I left the community, I went around and erased by existence from them, hoping that this would be enough to get the child I wanted and woman I desired before rejoining and explaining myself.

"It is unfortunate that River decided to lie about what happened. She was not as innocent as she likes to make herself seem," Andrei added at the end, sowing doubt about the story she told. If she didn't say all that she did, she would still be held in high regard in his heart. She could have been the mother of his children.

Now she would have to die for what she did to him. The humiliation of her leaving was enough to enrage him, but being debauched by three men and becoming his ruler, his Queen? That was impossible for him to accept. She was supposed to be under him, not making the rules.

Edward looked back at him with sympathy, with empathy and uttered, "You didn't deserve that."

He knew from the look his woman gave that she would be harder to convince. Women were always skeptical, you had to shower them with enough praise and gifts that they stopped looking under cracks and corners, creating things in their mind or questioning motives. This woman was no different and Andrei knew he would have to tread carefully before she was remade. She would have to be made to be softer, less outspoken, but he could do that. Removing memories was now second nature.

However, despite her being harder to convince, her pregnancy would make her a prime target from the Volturi. Andrei doubted that they did not want a child and perhaps they would do what they'd done to younger vampires turned by those they did not like: take the child.

Mothers were the hardest to get to unless you had a way in.

They had to fear for their child's safety.

"It is best that you do not discuss this pregnancy with anyone who could speak to the Volturi about this," Andrei persuaded. "The rest of the hybrids are in hiding and will likely do nothing. Their vampire parents are either dead or do not speak to them for fear of their own death. It will have to be secret, to keep the child safe."

Edward gave Andrei a nod and said, "We won't tell anyone we've seen you."

That was the beginning of their arrangement.

---

ANDREI HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN RECRUITING ONLY A FEW VAMPIRES, BUT THOSE WHO HE'D MADE, NOW THAT WAS A USEFUL VENTURE INDEED. Creating vampires that he could mold into the perfect creation was what he'd always desired, and the beginning was only getting started. He first went to the best place he could find: California. Plenty of homeless people that he could take to his second location: Brazil.

There were plenty of people in Brazil and the surrounding nations where he could pick off populations, mainly in villages where he disguised it as a plague or interpersonal violence. There were no survivors that remembered what happened, and nothing was making the news headlines. Mass graves could be dug by his little Newborn machines. None of them ever complained.

He had found none with gifts among the group he had turned. Most were homeless youths between 17 to 20. None would be missed, former foster care children with no homes and drug issues. Andrei felt disgusted that this was what he had to turn to, but when had his enemies ever given him much to work with? He could be resourceful when he was required to be.

So far he had seven that he'd made. All men, all who could become warriors or servants to his needs. None had the self control or mindset to become good parents to growing minds. Then again, none of them possessed the gift he had, so nobody could do what was really needed for a child.

In a way, all of these Newborns were his children. They were the start of what could be a great army of children. They were the experimental firstborn who got every technique tried out on them.

Most of them listened to him right away. None of them could have survived without him. He'd chosen the ones who didn't know Spanish and therefore wouldn't be able to pick up on Portuguese. This made sure that they wouldn't be the ones talking to the locals and giving him more work after they hunted.

My, did they need to hunt often. Andrei couldn't remember what it was like to be so hungry, but they ate everything they could when they were hungry. One had nearly caused issue when he ate a man's sheep. It was difficult removing the memory of the animal and turning his mind to think that a wild animal had eaten it.

Andrei had been in frequent correspondence with Edward and his woman, who he later learned was named Bella. She was growing weak and Edward was having to sneak into Seattle hospitals in order to take blood back to her. They had been keeping it a secret, moving away from the main Cullen residence to rather live on their own. The only person who knew about their pregnancy was their friend Alice Cullen, who was also staunchly against the Volturi and their schemes.

Everyone had to be careful in these early stages. Andrei was convinced that he had to convince more people. Unfortunately, the way things were shaping up, it was unlikely he would be able to reach Italy without being spotted. Edward informed him that they had most of the coasts covered and the closest he could get to the continent was if he went through Turkey, which was hard for him to do because of the Coven that lived there.

While it would be worth their while, many cowards exist within the vampire community. He was training his Newborns to kidnap vampires and bring them back to Brazil so they would be able to mold them into proper soldiers.

That would take at least a few more months to make sure it happened properly without one of his men spilling everything. While forcing them to be honest with him worked out well, they had trouble lying to literally anyone else, which was not good for a kidnapping and remolding. He would have to mold them more, figure out what teachings would be best for them to remember and what he could get rid of.

The remolding had already begun.