• “Hurry up, Carl! You’re lagging behind!” I called out, laughing. Behind me, Carlisle was trying to keep up with me and doing a very bad job of it. “You know I hate it when you call me that!” he yelled in mock annoyance. I stuck my tongue out at him and slowed down a bit. Bad idea on my part. A sudden flash of sparkling white tackled me to the ground, where we rolled around for a while, laughing happily.

    As we lay there, both of us admiring the others glittering skin, I sighed contentedly. Everything was perfect. Just weeks ago, I had me Carlisle, who had been traveling through town, and had been steadily falling in love ever since. I had an amazing boyfriend, and awesome new power to go with my new vampire body, and loving parents who—

    Suddenly, I shot up and, dragging Carlisle behind me, began running quickly in a specific direction. “What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

    I giggled. “Nothing, Carl.”

    “Then where are we running to in such a hurry?”

    “My parents, silly!”

    With that, he pulled me to a stop. Or tried to, anyway. He may have been a 200 year old vampire, but I was less than a year old, so my human was still fueling me immensely. “What do you mean, your parents?” he asked, doubt lacing his features.

    Confused, I frowned at him slightly. Then it dawned on me what he meant and I laughed giddily. “The coven that changed me, Carl. Don’t worry, they’re nice.” With that, I resumed pulling him at full speed toward the house where my dad was waiting.

    When we neared the house, we both paused to fix our windblown clothes and tousled hair before walking calmly inside. As we stepped through the door, Carlisle stiffened and turned to face the three men who stood off to the right.

    “Ah, Carlisle, so nice of you to finally join us,” the man in the middle practically giggled, stepping into the light.

    “Aro,” Carlisle nodded tightly.

    Confused, I glanced between the two. “You two know each other?”

    Father smiled at me serenely. “Why, don’t you remember, my dear Irene? This is my old friend, Carlisle Cullen, the one I’ve told you so much about!”

    I looked at my Carl thoughtfully. Suddenly, there was the sound of approaching footsteps accompanied by dozens of excited voices. Father clapped his hands lightly and several vampires filed into the room, each leading a couple of laughing, clueless humans.

    I growled lowly, sure that the tell-tale blood red specks of hunger dotted my dark green eyes. Turning my attention to Carlisle, I asked laughingly, “Would you like to join us for dinner?”

    At this, Father came over to us. “I’m sorry, dear, but his diet is that of vegetarian consumption. Dinner with us would be rather… uncomfortable, eh, Carlisle?” he asked, eyes shining oddly.

    I looked at him with curiosity. Carlisle, ignoring Father, answered my question. “Actually, I hunted earlier today, thank you. I must be going.”

    As he left, I caught his hand. “The forest tonight? Same time?” I whispered lowly, searching his honey golden eyes. He paused, obviously debating his answer, then nodded once before disappearing through the doors and into the trees.

    Confused, I watched him leave with a sense of foreboding. “Irene! Join us, won’t you?” Father called across the room. Shrugging away the uncomfortable feeling that had settled over me, I turned with a snarl and lunged at the nearest human.

    *~*~* later that night *~*~*

    As I entered into our usual meeting place, I glanced around nervously, not sure my Carl was going to show. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw him leaning up against our tree, skin glimmering softly in the moonlight.

    When he saw me, he walked slowly over to me. Without so much as a hello, he said, “Why didn’t you tell me that the vampire who changed you was Aro of the Volturi?” He didn’t sound angry, just a little worried.

    Shrugging, I glanced around the clearing distractedly, saying, “I don’t know. Never crossed my mind as important.”

    Grabbing my chin gently, Carlisle turned me to face him. “But it is, Irene. Those people are murderers.”

    Pulling away indignantly, I asked, “What are you talking about? Father is the nicest person I know!!”

    He sighed. “Irene, the Volturi slaughter droves of innocent humans daily. They make false accusations against other covens when they get to be larger than what your ‘father’ likes or when they have talents that he wants. They kill other vampires in cold blood, so to speak, because they don’t follow their made up laws or respect their self-imposed royal status.”

    During his little rant, I had been shaking my head vehemently. “Father wouldn’t do that! He says that he only rids the world of vampires who bear the threat of exposing us to humans. As for the humans, they’re nothing but vermin. They’re of no use to us other than a food supply.”

    “Irene, they’ve lied to you! You can’t stand there and tell me that you’re 100% okay with them murdering innocent vampires, ending the lives of thousands of humans!” I fidgeted guiltily under his steady gaze. He noticed this and pressed on. “Irene, please, come with me. We can leave here and go somewhere far away. You can learn to live off of animal blood instead of feasting upon humans.” He stared at me imploringly.

    Backing away from him slightly, I said, “Carlisle, I can’t. He saved my life! He took me in and sheltered me. I have a home now, because of him. I am bound to him.” I looked at him beseechingly, begging him with my eyes to understand.

    “Irene… he’s just using you. Don’t you see? You have a valuable power, and now you’re a part of his collection. That’s the only reason.”

    “How can you say that? He saved my life! He cares about me!!”

    “Irene, please, just listen to me!”

    Somewhere deep inside me, I felt something pulling me away from Carlisle, urging me to defend my father. Snarling, I ripped away from his grasp, glaring frostily at him. “Go away. I never want to see you again.” My words were like steel, cold and harsh and unyielding.

    Carlisle looked at me, with such a sorrowful expression on his face that I almost relented. Almost. “Is that really how you feel?” he asked, searching my emerald eyes with his gold ones. I nodded stiffly. He placed his hand on my shoulder then dropped it quickly. “I’m sorry to hear that. Goodbye Irene.” With that, he turned and left the clearing.

    As I watched him leave, I saw red. ‘How dare he accuse Father like that?!’ I thought furiously. Through my anger, I could feel the sadness well up deep inside me. Venom pooled in my eyes, threatening to fall. I thought he was different. I thought he love—

    I spun around blindly, cutting off that thought as I headed towards the town. Running through the trees as fast as I could, I paid no attention to the branches and thorns tearing at my hair and ripping through my dress. By the time I reached the end of the woods, I was mindless in my rage.

    I flitted through the shadows along the streets, searching for a straggling human, late going home from work that night. A rustling to my left caught my attention. Whirling around, I saw a young woman with an infant sprinting towards a house a few feet away. With a feral snarl, I fell into my hunting crouch and flashed over to them. Before she had a chance to cry out, I reached up and snapped her neck. I smirked as I cradled her in my arms and bit roughly into her neck.

    ~*~ 158 years later (Present) ~*~

    I let go, letting the drained corpse fall to the ground with a dull thud. Rising, I straightened my cloak and nodded to Felix, who was thoroughly freaking his meal out. “Didn’t your mother ever t teach you not to play with your food?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at his antics.

    He smirked back, answering, “But where’s the fun in that, Irene? In fact, why don’t you come over and join me?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

    Rolling my eyes at the mountainous vampire, I walked out of the ‘dining hall’, having sated my thirst. As I passed by the frail human, Gianna I believe, at the desk by the front entrance, she stopped me. “Oh, Irene! Aro wishes to see you in the throne room!”

    I nodded curtly and pivoted back towards my father. As I reached the door, I heard the voices of Marcus, Caius, and my father conversing quietly. Swinging the door open, I smiled at my uncles before stopping in front of Aro, my father.

    “Ah, Irene. So glad to see you. I have some rather distressing news for you. It seems as though a coven in North America, the Cullens, has broken on the most imperative of the vampire laws.”

    I stiffened slightly at the name of the man who had left me so long ago, but kept my face blank as he continued with his sorrow-filled explanation.

    “A loyal vampire reported to us sometime ago that the Cullens have created and are harboring an immortal child within their coven. It is your job to go ahead and scout everything out. Report back to me your findings. Do not let me down.” His voice was unusually stern on the last sentence, and I nodded firmly. His serious expression evaporated, replaced by a joyful smile. “I knew I could count on you, Irene!”

    Knowing I had just been dismissed, I bowed respectfully to the three leaders and exited the room to prepare for the trip.