Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Sins Of The Past

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 02:

Bella POV

“My Bella. How are you?”

“I… I’m”

“Not good. Don’t lie to me. You are not good at it.”

I chuckled a bit.

“What gave me away?”

“Tell me.”

“One of them came here. He saw Dani.”

Aro hissed.

“I was afraid of that. The reason I was calling was due to several private investigators making inquiries into your life. The client seems to be from Washington. Is he still there? Afton is in Pennsylvania with…”

“No. No I don’t think it was him that did… that to me. He was the one I least suspected.” I explained calmly. I didn’t need to give Caius an excuse to launch a full scale attack on the wolf pack. I wanted one wolf. One would be mine.

Unless the others knew and did nothing.

Then I promised Caius he could destroy them all and I would light the bonfire of bodies on First Beach.

“This would be Samuel Uley? The Alpha of the pack? What did he want? Danielle?”

“No. My father. Charlie. He was shot. Apparently I am needed at his side. The city of Forks wants me to investigate his shooting. He is not in very good condition.”

“That’s not going to happen. Two more years Bella. That is the plan. It is a good plan. Dani will be safe, you will be with us and the wolf will pay for what he did to you. Two more years. Stay away from Washington.”

“I know. I told him no. But Dani was home. She overheard that her grandfather was possibly dying and…”

“Wants to see him.” Aro finished.

“Yes.”

Aro was silent for a moment. I heard murmurs in the background.

“Who is there?”

“Just Caius my dear. He is not happy.”

I nodded to myself. Caius took the longest to even speak to me without a sneer. Over the years he has become the most protective, outside of Aro.

“Bella, you of course make the decisions in your human life. If I made the decisions you never would have become a police officer in the first place, which by the way led to you being shot.” He reminded me. He loved to remind me of that whenever I planned to do something stupid. Like go to work.

“But I have to say the risk involved… if you wish to take Dani to Forks, you will not go alone.”

“The Pack is no longer phasing. Uley told me so. They haven’t in years. They have aged.” I explained.

“Did he know who attacked you Bella?”

“No. He said he didn’t. Judging by his face I believed him.”

“Then how can you really verify any information from the idiot. He didn’t know he had a violent rapist in his Pack. How would he know what is going on?”

I took a drink and thought on this. He did have a point. If Sam didn’t know, and I believed him… he had to have known. Right? I always assumed they circled the wagons so to speak. How could they not know? But his face. I read faces for a living. He didn’t know.

“This could be a ploy to get you back to Forks.” Caius said, speaking up for the first time. “This whole thing is ridiculous Bella. Let us kill them all.”

“Caius…”

“Caius stop.” Aro scolded him.

“Fine we won’t kill them all, but it still could be a ploy. Whoever attacked you must know you would never come back to Washington. Only the death of a father might make you return.”

“Then I could possibly find who did this.” I reasoned.

“You don’t need to find who did this. Alec will hold them all in limbo one by one. I touch them and we bring the perpetrator back to Italy, Bella. This has been our plan.” Aro reminded me.

“I know. But I could do it myself. You have to understand why this is important to me.”

“When you agreed to join our guard there ceased to be a you. We are family Bella. You may not be immortal yet but you are one of us. We will find who did this. You will have your revenge. I swear it. But walking into a possible trap? And you want to go alone? It is not going to happen.”

He was right. I lit another cigarette.

“So we agree you stay in New York or you go to Forks with the guard?”

“Yes Master.” I conceded. “But my father…”

“We will send him flowers.” Caius spoke up quickly. I rolled my eyes. A typical caring response from Caius.

“Bella, make your decision. Take as much time as you need. But I forbid you from going to Forks alone. Even if you were an immortal I would not send you alone. Volturi do not travel alone.” Aro told me with no room for doubt in his voice.

I knew this. It was one of the things that drew me to the Volturi. That convinced me to accept Aro’s offer. Despite being human I was welcome there. I had a gift. A gift that would be useful to them and to the world. They provided a service, protecting humans from being overran by vampires. He thought I was special at a time when I felt like dirt. He made me feel special. They all did.

“You are right Master. I will stay in New York. We have time.”

“Excellent. Now tell me how work is going? Any interesting cases?”

I spoke to him for approximately ten minutes about work. I really hadn’t had any interesting cases lately. Mostly gang violence or domestic violence always ending in death. I came in and swept up the pieces. I fixed another drink, noting that the music in Dani’s room had gone down. It was close to dinner time. Renee looked up at me from the couch. To her credit she never pried. She never asked where the money came from, who I talked to on the phone. She was the perfect roommate. She loved me and Dani and minded her own business. She was there on my bed at 3 AM when I woke up screaming. She rubbed my shoulders and back when the pain became too much for the pills to handle. My back and shoulder muscles never really recovered from the attack. I worked out, taking Vicodin to complete a simple three mile run or hundred yard sprint or a set of pull ups. Of course I took more Vicodin than was allowed. It was easy to find on the street. Committing a little possession felony was small compared to some of the things I had done.

Murder for example. Killing was a fact of life for a vampire and in my many trips to Volterra over the years I was taught to do this. I was not proud of that but it bothered me less than it should. Chelsea says due to the rape I may have problems empathizing with those I am not close to. To me it was simple. Aro wanted me to understand what it was to kill someone. I took a knife and sliced the guy’s throat and watched Jane drain him. He was food. Jane was family. He was not. Life and death were simple. Aro taught me that. You take care of your own.

But I needed the pills to stay in good enough shape to fight men twice my size. It took a lot of work and caused a lot of pain. The only time I wished I didn’t have a shield was when Alec attempted to block out my senses so I could rest. He tried so hard but nothing worked on me.

I motioned to Mom to order Chinese. I wasn’t really hungry but she became upset if I didn’t eat. I didn’t need her more upset after Uley’s visit.

After Dani graduates High School, Mom will be a millionaire as well Dani. Recipients of a twenty million dollar life insurance policy on myself that pays double in the event I am killed in the line of duty. In reality there was no insurance policy. Only money they would receive after I faked my death and turned.

Aro could have taken me at any time over the past 16 years. He could have used Dani’s and my mother’s life to make me do his bidding. Instead he offered me a choice. He gave me time. He gave me a lot of time. More time than I was willing to give myself. Aro sent Chelsea to me. My therapist for all intents and purposes. The woman who makes it possible for the guard to live with each other and not kill each other over the decades. A woman I could talk to about everything. He gave me Jane, my best friend and occasionally the only true lover I had ever willingly had. Jane knew what it was to be raped and she had been much younger than I. She didn’t allow men to touch her either, other than her brother. Aro gave me Marcus who understood pain and loss. He gave me Caius who surprisingly made me laugh. He gave me Afton, Demetri and Felix, who understood I didn’t like to be touched by men and made sure no man would. Felix, as big and intimidating as he was, could always make me laugh.

Renata and Heidi made me remember that it was okay to not be so serious all the time. And in Sulpicia and Athenodora I found the mother figures who offered advice and guidance. I loved Renee. She saved my life. She was my best friend. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate and love the Queens as well.

Aro built me back up from the brink of death. He never abandoned or hurt me. That is why I was loyal to the Volturi.

Dani would be better without me. As a human I left much to be desired. I drank, smoked and cursed. I was overly aggressive at times. Without Aro we would have been living in a small apartment somewhere while I worked a menial job and would never be able to send Dani to college. Without Aro she never would have been born, and I would be dead. Lying on a Florida beach with sliced wrists and a vacant stare.

The Volturi made me strong. They gave me purpose. They would give me my revenge. But I had time. If I went back now, Dani would be in danger. I couldn’t leave her here. She would never forgive me. No, once she was out of high school, she would have her own life and I would have my immortal one. The first order of business would be to find the motherfucker that raped me and torture him for years.

Jacob told me once a lifetime ago that he used to be a good kid. A good guy. But that changed when he turned into a wolf.

I used to be a good girl. A nice girl. A romantic. A Juliet wanting her Romeo so badly it hurt. Then a wolf attacked me.

Now I want blood. And I would have it.

I bid goodnight to Aro after promising not to do anything rash. I had a feeling regardless I would be seeing one of my family members in the next day or so. Felix or Jane or Chelsea would stop by, in the city on Volturi business and just say hi.

It was fine. We were family. I didn’t mind.

Aro POV

“So who are we sending to visit her?” Caius asked me.

“No one. She will be fine.”

“She is not fine. She had a reminder from her very brutal past come visit her unexpectedly and learned the father she barely speaks to more than once or twice a year is dying. I am an insensitive bastard and I know that she is not fine.”

Caius had a valid point.

“She is no longer suicidal. She has not been in years. She is angry and focused. Those are positive traits. She is good at focusing on them. She will believe us to think her weak if I send someone every time she has a difficult time.”

“She is not weak. But…”

“But what?” I asked my brother annoyed already. I did not like my guard hampered. My guard was to be happy. Isabella was my guard.

“Perhaps Athenodora and I may visit New York. Take her out to dinner. Get her away from that demon child she attempts to raise.”

“Caius…”

“She was born to be a vampire. She knows this. She will be better off when she joins us in immortality. Takes her place where she belongs.”

“She needed this time to raise her child…”

“A child that was forced on her. We should have talked her into giving that child up for adoption and brought her into our fold then.”

“I made a different call! Deal with it!” I yelled, uncharacteristically losing my temper. Normally Caius did not get to me this easily.

“Then you said nothing when she joined the police academy of all things. We have almost lost her three times! Once when she was actually shot and if not for Felix acting quickly she would have been dead twice more! You refused to even tell her how close to death she was.”

“Caius, please shut up. Don’t you understand? She needed to do these things for herself. If we had turned her when she was 18, she would eternally be the girl who was raped and mauled by the monster.”

“What is she now?”

“Apparently a woman you love and respect or you would not be this upset.” I pointed out.

He at least quieted himself. Thankfully. I needed to think.

“You are right. She has come a long way from the mess you found. I won’t question you brother. You have brought her into herself.”

“We all have. But she deserves most of the credit. She was born to be one of us.” I admitted. I remembered when I first found her. Or Jane and Alec found her would be more accurate.

I had sent the two along with Demetri to Seattle Washington to find and stop a vampire creating newborns at an alarming rate. Found her they did. A red headed vampire by the name of Victoria. Jane called and reported that there did not seem to be any other vampires in the area other than those associated with her. So who was this army created to fight?

I instructed them to follow her and her army. They followed and witnessed a battle of giant wolves and vampires. A battle that was crashed by a small brown haired teenage girl who bravely stood in the middle of a battlefield and sliced her own arm.

I was intrigued. A human who was protected by wolves and bravely stood up to vampires. I wanted to know more. Jane, Alec and Demetri followed her home to Forks. They watched her leave again in her truck and followed at a distance into the Indian Reservation La Push. They stayed in the trees unseen and downwind. I instructed the three to fall back and wait at the girl’s house. Werewolves were not unheard of. This girl though, interested me. Why did a vampire raise an army to battle werewolves for what appeared to be an attempt to get to her?

She came home around three AM. Jane called and told me she appeared injured. Bleeding. Limping. I ordered Alec to use his gift to make her pain go away and bring her to Italy quietly. She stumbled out of her house an hour later. He stood behind the girl as she came out of the house, the fog enveloping her completely. She was crying. She was moaning. But she never stopped moving. Jane attempted to bring her down. Nothing.

The information relayed to me, I instructed the three to forget about the werewolves and follow the girl from a distance. They followed her for three days. Watched her as she slept on the side of the road at my instruction. I ordered she not be disturbed unless it appeared death was imminent. In that event Jane was to change her immediately and take her to a secure location where she could complete the change.

There was absolutely no way I would allow a woman who could block Jane and Alec’s gifts to slip away from me.

Jane and Alec watched her for weeks. They watched the nurse come to her mother’s home. They listened to her screams of pain at night while she was treated. Even Jane was disturbed eventually.

By this point it was obvious to me that the girl knew of vampires, had run afoul of one, and based on her location it most likely had something to do with the Cullens.

We watched. I flew down after four months. Her wounds would not kill her. She had survived without our intervention. Something also became apparent to Jane. She was pregnant.

The night I arrived the sun was falling as she shuffled out of the house onto the beach. I was excited for the opportunity to speak to her this soon. At least until I saw what was in her hand. She stumbled slowly down the beach to a deserted spot. No one would see her in the dark.

Bella sat on the ground and without further ado moved the straight razor to her wrists.

“Could I perhaps have a word with you before you take that action?”

She was so surprised to see me she nearly cut herself anyway, the clumsy thing.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Aro. I am…”

“a vampire.” She finished.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to kill me? You can. Please? Just please don’t hurt me anymore. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“My dear you are far too special to let die. I have a proposal for you. Would you like to hear it?”

“I really have nothing better to do right now I suppose.” She admitted after a few moments.

“Good. First I want you to tell me everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yes. Everything.”

So she told me. I sat in my $5000 fine Italian suit on the beach sand and listened to her for hours, tell me about the nightmare of her life. She told me everything. She even raised her shirt and showed me her scars. She explained that she wanted to die. She seemed desperate to die.

I knew if I changed her shortly after her baby was born she would be unstable. Weak. She would feel like a victim. I couldn’t have that type of person in my guard. But she was too special to let go. I felt a pull towards her I had not felt since I saved Jane and Alec from burning at the stake over a thousand years before.

I offered her my proposal. She would raise her child. I would take care of every need she could possibly have. I felt being a mother may help her break free from the victim mentality. It would be good for her. A reminder of her rape? Yes. But she would deal with it. I would make sure she got the therapy she needed. In return she gave her word that after her child graduated high school, she would fake her death and join us. I knew her mother knew of vampires. Bella told me so. I really didn’t care. From what Jane said if her mother said anything about sparkling vampires it would be the excuse society needed to lock her away in an asylum. A bit of a free spirit, that one. I could have used Renee’s life to threaten Isabella into doing my bidding. But then she would be a slave. I wanted her to be as the rest of my innermost guard was. Loyal of their own free will.

Carlisle liked to believe that Chelsea kept the Volturi together. He would prefer to believe that. Chelsea was gifted at easing tensions. Perhaps bonding people to herself. But no one vampire is that strong. To hold the inner guard and the over fifty outer guard members in the castle together and loyal to me? Ridiculous.

No I wanted Bella. I wanted her to come to me of her own free will. I would make her like Jane and Alec. The perfect vampire.

“So I would join you? Forever? You would want me forever?”

“Yes. You have your child. Love your child. It is not the child’s fault what happened to you Bella. Once the child is grown you take your true destiny.”

“In eighteen years? I will be so old then. Could I even be a vampire?”

That caused me to laugh for the first time that night.

“Bella you will be 36. I was 40 when I turned. My brother Caius was 38 and my brother Marcus 48. Just because you have seen nothing but teenage vampires does not mean all vampires are teenagers. You will take these years to grow. I will bring you into our fold. Teach you everything there is to know about being an immortal. You will raise our child despite the bastard that did this to you. We will keep it secret from anyone in Washington. I am over two thousand years old. 18 years is a small span of time for me to wait. You are definitely worth the wait.”

And then I added the last bit of bait on the hook.

“And once your child graduates, and the child and your mother are financially set for life, we will turn you and then visit La Push. I will use my gift to find out who did this to you. We will bring him home and he will be yours.”

“Mine?” she looked so frightened but hopeful.

“Yes. To do with as you please for as long as you please.” I told her with a knowing grin. It was time to plant the notion in her head that she would not always be a victim.

“What do you need from me? What is the catch?”

“Besides serving in my guard for eternity?” I laughed lightly.

“Yes. If I change my mind you kill my family? Is that it?”

“Bella I want your word that when your child graduates high school you will be an immortal in my guard. Your word is enough. You kept the secret of vampires despite being abandoned by them. You kept the secret of wolves despite being raped by one of them. You drove into the middle of a battle you had no business being involved in to give the people you believed were your friends a chance. Before all this you went to a nomad you believed had your mother to try and take her place. Your word is enough. No I won’t kill you. I won’t kill your family. Say no and you won’t see me again. Perhaps you can come back here and slit your wrists tomorrow night. Or you can grow, raise a child, become strong, join a family and provide a service to mankind. Keeping humans like your mother and father from being overran by vampires. Take the night. Take tomorrow. The night after I will be on this spot. Let me know one way or another. If you decide to join me, you are with us. If not, I understand. Good night Bella.”

I left her sight quickly but stayed behind and watched her. I knew what she would do. She was a fighter. She needed family and a purpose. I would give her those and she would make us stronger. Two nights later she returned to the same spot as I knew she would.

“I give you my word. I will swear allegiance to you.” She told me simply.

“Thank you Bella.”

“So what now?”

“Now you live. I have already taken the liberty of placing you on an insurance plan. We need to get you seen by a real obstetrician. I also have a member of my guard who is a very good therapist. Her name is Chelsea. You will begin meeting with her. No more suicidal thoughts or actions Bella. You are Volturi now. We are strong. Do you understand?”

“Yes… yes… what do the members of the guard call you? It must not be simply Aro.”

“You may call me what you wish. But the other guard members choose to call me and my two brothers by the title of Master. A term of respect down through the ages.”

“Okay. Master Aro. I will do what you say. I will serve the Volturi. I give you my word.” She told me firmly, her face set in stone.

At that point I knew I had her. No matter who else found her, Carlisle or his idiot son, she was mine now. She was Volturi.

“I don’t like it…” Caius’s voice brought me out of my musings.

“Fine. Jane. Jane and Alec.”

“I will have the jet prepared immediately. Glad you see it my way brother. I need to visit my wife. I believe she has wanted to go overseas for a shopping trip.”

“Let me guess brother. New York City?”

“I’m not certain but it does sound like a splendid idea.”

Dani POV

I strolled into my Mom’s and grandmother’s room quietly but casually in the event that either woke up. I quickly saw there was no need.

Mom was asleep in her chair by the window. Grandmother was snoring with her sleeping cap on in her own bed. Only a lamp lit the room. Looking at Mom’s hand I saw what I needed to see. An empty glass in her hand. She drank too much tonight. When this happened she would not be waking up until morning. She would be in pain. Her back would kill her from sitting up all night.

I thought of taking what I needed and leaving. But she didn’t do this often. Not anymore. Whoever this Uley guy was, shook her up. Enough to make her pass out drunk.

How to do this?

I walked over and opened her purse. She had two thousand in cash on her apparently. Average walking around money for a cop. I never bothered her about where she got her money. I honestly figured she was selling drugs on the street or providing protection for dealers. Weird for a homicide cop but whatever. She was my Mom. I loved her. So long as she didn’t get injured and kept coming home I was happy.

Wasn’t I?

Sure I may have felt that she was pulling away from me the older I got. She may have changed. I thought it was after she had to kill that guy. I thought maybe the trauma of taking a life had made her more distant.

Until I figured out that there was no trauma from taking a life. She never was bothered about it. She talked about how horrible it was when asked but I knew her. It has been the three of us all my life. She did not feel any guilt or trauma.

Mom really has given me a good life. I admit I was spoiled. If I wanted it she gave it to me.

But I never could shake the feeling that she did this out of guilt.

I think she spoiled me because she felt guilty about something. I never could figure out what. It couldn’t be simply not knowing who my father was.

Washington State. The land that was not spoken of. The mention of the place infuriated Grandmother. Mom simply refused to talk about it. She had only lived there for a year or so. But something happened. She blamed the scars on her back on a bear that attacked her there. Supposedly that it why she refused to talk about it.

She had a one night stand with a Seminole man she met in a bar when she returned to Florida.

Meeting Sam Uley today, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the one night stand did not occur in Florida and I was not Seminole. I spent the night in my room reading on the net about the Quileute people. La Push. Right next to Forks. Did Mom have a boyfriend there? Did he dump her after the attack because of the scars?

One thing I knew for sure. My mother was not above lying to me. If I wanted answers I had to find them myself. And I wanted answers. I wanted to know why my mother felt guilt. Why she at times drank to unconsciousness. Why she hated men so much, that she refused even the most casual contact. Why she had never had a romantic relationship. Not one. Why she woke up screaming at night.

I wanted to know why she was pulling away from me.

To do this I had to go to Washington.

I slipped the money into my own purse and took her credit card. Then I attempted to wake her. She wouldn’t wake of course but I did get her a bit coherent enough to help me drag her to her bed and lay her face first on the mattress. I slipped off her boots and kissed her cheek. I did love her. I didn’t really know her and because of that I didn’t know myself. It was time.

I bought the ticket online. The flight left for Seattle in three hours and a connecting flight would take me somewhere called Port Angeles. I could take a taxi from there.

I phoned my friend Chrissy.

“What’s up bitch?”

“Your sister still game?”

“Yeah. She’ll do anything for $500 you spoiled brat. What time?”

“Tell her to meet me at the airport at 2:45. I just need her and her ID to get me on the plane. She can have her money and nobody will know.”

“Yeah, like your mom isn’t coming after her? She is a cop you know.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I’ll handle my Mom. If your sister is scared I can find some other 21 year old to get me on that plane.”

“She will do it. I’m thinking of scoring some X this weekend. You in?”

“Won’t be here.” I answered shortly.

“You’ll be back. C’mon. Chip in $200 and we can get enough for Trey and Colby to join us. A little fun time wouldn’t kill you. I’ll even make sure Trey brings condoms since you Mom refuses to hook you up with the pill.

“Not interested.”

“You’re not going to turn into a man hating lez like your mother are you?” she asked half jokingly. I didn’t find it funny.

“Shut the fuck up. Don’t talk about my Mom like that. Just because I don’t fuck every dick that offers itself doesn’t mean I hate men. Maybe you should be a bit more selective.”

“Whatever. My sister will be there. If you want in this weekend get me the cash. Later hooker.”

“Later.”

I ended the call and a cab pulled over.

“Airport.” I instructed the driver. By the time Mom woke up I would be landing in Seattle.

It was time to find the answers she wouldn’t give me. The first stop was seeing my grandfather. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be the only family I would meet in Washington. Somewhere there was my father. I knew it. I just had to find him now.