FOR THE PAST TWO HOURS I'D BEEN WATCHING JANE AND ALEC PLAY AIR HOCKEY.

They were both cheating. Alec had grabbed the puck a few times, Jane had thrown things at him to distract her twin brother in order to score. It was funny, and I was sure that at least twice a puck was destroyed.

The funding in the castle towards fun and games was insane. All the latest consoles, mainly the Xbox 360 home. That was the best one. I'd been given one of the many game boys to use in my free time, but I'd played more Pokémon and GTA San Andreas on the Playstation.

Alec was a giddy boy that had somewhat warmed up to me over the past two days. Jane, however, was still terrified of my every word. I think she's concerned that I'd go back on my word, which I wouldn't. There is no need to kick this poor girl out of the Volturi for the mere crime of getting her head torn off by a vindictive ex Queen.

Many of the guards had spoken to me today, ones that I hadn't met before. Or, ones that I hadn't truly met other than the schedule incident when I first came, when I was very much human.

"CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME GOOD AT SOMETHING?" Alec screamed at his sister as he finally threw a piece of plastic back at her. Honestly, served her right, what was she expecting?

"NO," Jane screamed right back, as I suspected she usually did.

I didn't have any siblings, so I would never actually understand what it was like to scream and throw things at your sibling, but I knew that this was normal. I'd known people with siblings. Hell, the Cullens acted like a family, a twisted one, but a family nonetheless.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that from what Afton said, Jasper is quite a bit older than Esme.

Good lord.

Both Jane and Alec were screaming when I decided that hearing their sibling fight wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. They could sort it out themselves. They had five hours ago when they fought over whose game boy was whose. As well as when Alec was insistent that it was his time to play on the Playstation 2.

So, in order to get away from the noise, I walked out of the room, finding myself in the hallway at the West most side of the Clocktower. The Guard quarters were the closest place to the game room, but I wasn't looking to invade their privacy.

Getting used to the layout of this place was difficult to say the least.

"Where ya trying to get to?" Afton asked from my left side, peeking into the game room after. "Oh yeah, they're going at it again. I promise they're only like this when Daddy isn't home."

"I wouldn't know. This is the first time that Aro's been gone for me," I said honestly, knowing that Afton didn't take himself too seriously. He was someone that didn't talk to me as if I would rip off their head for saying anything ever so slightly out of line.

"He leaves sometimes, but not for very long. And he usually brings the twins," Afton noted as he turned his head back to me. "We're under a slight lockdown, obviously, but we have a little secret area the kings aren't allowed to go into, if you'd like to join us there."

"An adventure, sure." He smiled and began walking far ahead of me, much faster than any human.

Being a vampire, the whole castle was now faster. No longer forced to walk like humans, shadows of vampires sprinting around the place was common. It's something I have to get used to, sure, and I still don't know how to vampire correctly, but it has to get normal like that, right? I'll figure out how to sprint around and get places as fast as teleportation.

Afton and I's walk over to this new place was quiet, and I did have a hard time controlling my speed as we practically jogged over.

But it was well worth coming.

The little area was outside, and was a picturesque picnic area with apple trees and a smaller garden than the large one on the other side of the Clocktower property. They had plentiful flowers that must have been tended to by the Guards themselves.

A small group of vampires were there, dressed casually and on a blanket placed down onto the fresh green grass. All girls laughing and laying on each other in a pile. Afton chuckled as he walked over to the group, kicking one girl with soft blonde hair in the shoulder.

"Hey! Chelsea, get your man," the girl exclaimed, grabbing the arm of the girl next to her. "Afton's boots are always dirty!"

"I cleaned them today, Corin," the man said as he began to lay over the girl that he had kicked. "Come on over here, River, this is the way of the vampire. Sparkling on picnic blankets and getting bullied for your boots. She bullies me. I am a bullied creature."

I giggled as a brunette girl hit him over the head with a newspaper. Swiftly I walked a few more steps, plopping myself down onto a different blonde girl's stomach.

"Hello there," I greeted her, still letting out a few giggles.

"Hello to you too," she greeted me back and began running her hands through my hair. "I'm Chelsea, that bugger that brought you'd mate. He's crying wolf, he and Corin are always mean to each other."

"I am not mean to her," Afton defended himself. "Renata, I am not mean to her, am I?"

"It's all in good fun, don't worry," the brunette girl I'd seen before, Renata, told him. "Luna, what are you doing with your legs? Corin will be left on the grass if you move much further."

This girl, Luna, had much darker hair than the rest, and her skin was far darker, but still had a gray tint to it like the rest. Her face was very doll like, and she wore make up that reminded her of a fashion doll, full of electric color. Her clothes were quite a bit baggier than the others.

"Caius texted me that he wants me in Forks to bring back a Newborn that Carlisle just made. Said something about an issue with Victoria being a bitch."

Her voice did not match her face at all. She said it so sweetly, voice dripping like honey, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was a bit menacing, in a good way.

She reminded me a bit of my old garden gnomes.

"Did he really call her a bitch, though?" Afton questioned, "Cause we were all thinking it, but...."

"No, he literally called her an annoying bitch," Luna confirmed. "Something's been up with him, man. Pissed off at everyone. Same with Aro. Mad as hell."

"I'm mad as hell, we aren't allowed outside the property anymore," Corin complained. "Except Heidi. Lucky girl."

"All she's doing is hunting, though," Chelsea reminded her. "The second she's done, she has to come back to the castle. One day a week."

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't been out of the Clocktower in many weeks. With my previous employment and now my turning, I suppose that I won't be out for a few more. And it's only the middle of May. Good lord.

"What day does she hunt for us?" I asked, only having a flimsy knowledge base around the idea of vampires hunting. "How does that work here?"

"Fridays, she leads humans in, usually bad people. Scammers these days flock. She works online and leads seminars on how to scam, brings them here, then kill's them. It used to be finding the bad people right outside of Volterra, but people will literally do anything for money these days, even if it's dirty money," Luna explained.

"They really are the scum of the Earth. We've gotten some overseas meals too! Super nice ones, good tasting blood," Afton exclaimed. "As for how it works. Well, they funnel into the feeding chamber. Then, most of us look at each other and decide which one we want, sometimes we scowl and fight silently over one. After everything is all over, we kill them."

Right.

Vampires kill people.

I'm going to kill someone tomorrow in order to live forever.

I mean, if they're bad people, is the world really losing anyone of value? God, I didn't think I was going to be questioning my morals while Aro was gone. Maybe I'd talk to Marcus about it, he seemed the most sympathetic to the human experience. Besides, if Marcus has been eating people, if the Marcus who made sure I was comfortable in this place as a human ate humans, ate people, it must mean that it was the only option.

"Can vampires survive off of other kinds of blood?" I asked.

"It sucks to do so. The Cullens do that, but it's tampered with their gifts to a degree that most of them understand. It puts them at a disadvantage against other vampires in a fight," Chelsea explained honestly. "Love Emmy but I can't imagine eating a wild boar."

"So, do most of you know the Cullens?"

"I mean, yeah," Afton said. "Vampires visit Volterra all the time to visit the Guard and just roam around the city. Volterra is kind of a cultural center for vampires and has been ever since the Kings gained control over the vampires all around the word."

"Emmett and Rosalie visit the most," Luna said as she brought out her blackberry. "They like it here. They considered joining us at one point, but they didn't want to leave Jasper. Alice hates most of us for some reason."

Corin began to laugh.

"Oh, what's so funny, pretty lady?" Luna questioned her. "Isn't it true? Alice fucking hates our guts. Mainly mine."

"Well, you did tell her that her gift was like a less accurate, visual version of your gift," Corin reminded her. "My love, you hurt her feelings."

"Fuck her feelings, she insinuated that she was better than you because she had the newest handbag back in 68. I had to bring her ego down to the appropriate level," Luna said, completely exasperated as she began mashing buttons on her phone. "Caius says I need to leave now, everyone, give me kisses."

Afton whined as Luna kissed him on the top of his head. As kisses were passed around, one reached the top of my head.

"It was really nice meeting you, future Queen of the Volturi!" She waved as she rushed off, her form quickly disappearing from my field of vision.

Luna seemed like a good person, and the rest of the people left were slightly misplaced on the picnic blanket in her absence. We all had to shift, with myself still on a lap, but Corin had to lay down on my legs.

"Renata, you've been so quiet today," Afton complained, moving over onto his stomach, looking up at his friend. "You didn't leave with Aro for Forks too. Did you two fight?"

"Wouldn't you want to know?" She snarked for a second before laughing. "Yeah, I guess I've been quiet. But no, Aro and I haven't fought. He wanted me guarding River here while he's away."

"Aro not being selfish and letting others use Renata for safety? Aro is growing," Afton said in a sing-song voice. "Perhaps Caius will apologize to people! And Marcus may start socializing with the masses!"

I actually laughed, despite the clear annoyance with the Volturi brothers beneath his voice. It was true, I suppose? I knew about Marcus not socializing and Caius not apologizing, so I would have to trust Afton on Aro having a slight selfish streak to him in regards to Renata, who I know is his personal guard. Figured that out a few hours after they told me everything.

"Well, good news that Caius apologized to me as a human, so we are heading in a good direction," I revealed.

"No!" Afton exclaimed.

"He did, I promise."

"Someone pinch me. Wait- OW!"