Santino

It had been a month since the encounter with the Cullens. Even now, Caius was irritable about it. Marcus remained indifferent, and Aro seemed to be over the incident. The rest of the Volturi guard went about their lives, not really caring about it. As the days following passed, everything seemed to go back to normal for the most part. But around a month's time since the incident, everyone noticed that Aro had been looking thoughtful about something. Everyone knew better than to ask Aro what he was thinking about. If one asked, it meant he would go through with that he was thinking about whether it was really a good idea or not. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were sitting in the main room on their thrones with the Volturi Guard, with the exception of Demetri and Felix, spread around doing their own thing. Felix and Demetri were in the lobby watching Scrubs. Athenadora was sitting on the arm of Caius' chair and reading together with him and Sulpicia was sitting on Aro's lap telling him about her day. After seeing Aro's thoughtful face, Sulpicia was the one to finally as Aro what was on his mind.

"My love, what are you thinking about? You've looked far away for days." Aro looked at Sulpicia as did everyone else in the main room. Caius immediately looked annoyed, as did Athenadora, and Marcus still looked like he didn't care.

"Oh it's nothing, my dear." There was a collective silent sigh of relief in the room. "But then again.." And the relief was gone, "I can't help but feel jealous of Edward and Bella." Caius rolled his eyes.

"You're jealous of anyone who has something you don't. Tell us something we don't know." Athenadora smirked at Caius' remark, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Well, aren't we in a sour mood today."

"Aro, I'm always in a sour mood. Again, tell us something we don't know." Athenadora smirked again and stayed quiet. Aro then ignored Caius and looked back at Sulpicia.

"I can't help but want one of those half breeds. And look at little Renesmee's gift. Imagine what my coven could create." All the members of the Voulturi guard looked at Aro in concern. Sulpicia pouted.

"You would never do such a thing to me would you, Aro?" Aro chuckled and shook his head.

"Of course not me, my sweet." Aro's face remained thoughtful for a moment, then he became eager. "I have an idea."

"Of course you do." Aro ignored Caius' comment and kept talking to Sulpicia.

"I wonder if maybe we should have some of our guard couple with human women we capture and see what we get." That's when Aro had everyone's full attention. Even Marcus was paying attention now, and he looked concerned, but the look was subtle.

"And who do you propose we use?" Aro shrugged at Caius' question and looked around the room. He looked at every male member of his guard, each of them silently praying he wouldn't pick them.

"Where are Demetri and Felix?" Heidi answered Aro.

"It's two o'clock. They're watching Scrubs." Aro sighed.

"I honestly don't understand what they see in that show." Renata spoke.

"What's there to understand? It's a bunch of idiots that work in a hospital as interns and their mentor, Dr. Cox, is an emotionally detached Deuce bag and the chief of medicine, Dr. Kelso, is an asshole. It's funny." Athenadora spoke next.

"I don't think that's funny." Sulpicia rolled her eyes.

"You don't think anything's funny."

"That's not true."

"Aw yes. You laugh when you see a drowning puppy." Athenadora rolled her eyes and brought her face closer to Caius' ear.

"I laugh when I see a small dog swimming in the lake, and now, I'm suddenly a puppy hater." Aro waved his hand to ask for silence.

"Renata, go get them for me." Renata nodded her head and ran out of the main room to the lobby where Felix and Demetri were. She came back with them a minute later. Demetri looked intent on what was going on. Felix was annoyed. He didn't get to watch Scrubs very often, so being interrupted one of the few times he could really aggravated him. "Now that we're all here," he looked at Caius, "who do you think I should use?"

"If you really plan to do this, I suggest the one that has the strongest gift." Aro smiled and immediately looked at Alec.

"Of course." Alec looked at Aro with a nervous face.

"I don't think I should, sir." Aro looked surprised.

"What makes you say that?" Alec sighed.

"Aro, with all due respect, I would rather have sex with my own sister than a human." Felix smirked.

"Like you don't do that already." Alec and Jane glared at Felix for his joke. Everyone else had a quick laugh. Alec and Jane never did such things, but because they were so close and always together, there was a Coven inside joke that they had incest. Just like there was an inside joke that Felix was a man-whore because he was so flirtatious and so on. It wasn't true, it was just inside jokes. But now wasn't the time for them as far as Alec and Jane were concerned.

"Very funny, Felix. But on a serious note, I would really like to see what we get with you, Alec. You have a very strong power. I can only imagine the type of child that power would create." Caius smiled as Aro progressed, but Marcus still wasn't sold on the idea. Marcus told him so by taking Aro's hand for only an instant so he could hear his thoughts. "My god, Marcus, you worry too much. Nothing bad will happen." Caius spoke next.

"What does he think could go wrong?" Aro sighed.

"Marcus thinks that if we do this, it will blow up in our face."

"And how, may I ask, does he think that will happen?"

"He thinks that the children will turn on us if we go through with this. He thinks that a child raised in an unstable environment can only cause trouble for us." Caius actually smirked to himself and chuckled at Marcus' concern. Aro was laughing lightly too, but they were the only ones.

"I doubt very seriously that a child will be able to best us. Especially if that child his half human. Those damn immortal children Aro made couldn't even best us. What makes you think a Halfling will be able to do any better?" Caius and Aro continued to laugh to themselves while everyone stayed quiet. Marcus still didn't look convinced, but he let the matter go.

"But who would we even use?" Alec asked. Aro smiled.

"Gianna's perfectly available. And she's always so eager to help us and do her part."

"That's because she's hoping that we'll make her one of us." Aro shrugged at Alec's reminder.

"I never said I would, now did I? And she doesn't need to know this will kill her. We can just hire a new girl while Gianna's on 'maternity leave'." Caius and Athenadora laughed under their breath while everyone else remained silent. He looked at Felix again with the same smile. "Go get her, will you, Felix?" Felix nodded and ran out of the main room to get Gianna from the lobby. When he was gone, Alec made a plea.

"Might I suggest using Felix? She likes him more than me. And I think Felix would be more open to sleeping with her than me." Aro laughed without humor.

"Alec, Felix has no special power. If we're going to do this, I would like to be guaranteed a gifted child. Now go upstairs to any of the rooms. She'll meet you up there as soon as I tell her to work late." Alec's eyes widened.

"You mean we're doing this now?" Aro nodded.

"Of course we are. You forget she's human. Human women only have so long before their biological clock craps out. I'd like to get this done as soon as possible."

"But Aro, Gianna's twenty six. I don't think we have to worry about her hitting menopause any time soon." Aro chuckled lightly and shook his head.

"Alec, I was joking. But I am serious about getting this done as soon as possible. She might not get pregnant on the first try. I want you to be prepared to keep going until she's pregnant." Jane brought herself into the conversation.

"Please don't make him do this, my lord. He's as likely to drink her dry as impregnate her." Aro shook his head.

"It's alright. He'll get used to it. If he kills Gianna, we can just find another girl, no big deal. It doesn't have to be Gianna, he'll get someone pregnant." Marcus touched Aro's hand again, pressing in another thought. "Of course he'll take care of it. It would be his responsibility as a father after all." Alec seemed to freeze the more Aro talked. Marcus only rolled his eyes and said no more. Aro waved his hand at Alec towards the door. "Now go and pick a room. Demetri will escort her to you and you can get started. Do it once tonight and then we'll wait a while and see if it took. If not, just try again."

Alec looked at Aro for a moment still stunned by what he was asking him to do. But finally, he nodded his head, hugged Jane quickly, and left the main room to go upstairs to one of the many previously unneeded bedrooms in the Volturi Castle. Shortly after that, Felix came back with Gianna walking close behind him into the main room. Gianna looked around at everyone trying to figure out what they might want to talk to her about. She was hoping that today might be the day that they decided to make her one of them. Felix hadn't confirmed or denied the possibility, so she was hoping for the best. When she was before Aro, he got up from where he was sitting and gently took Sulpicia off his lap and walked over to Gianna. She smiled at him hopefully and Aro smiled back with a renewed joy on his face. One could tell he was excited about what he was about to have done.

"Gianna, my dear, how has your day been?" Gianna smiled.

"It's been wonderful sir." Aro smiled wider.

"That's wonderful Gianna, simply wonderful. It thrills me that you enjoy your job so." Gianna nodded her head.

"Yes, I do, sir." Aro grinned.

"Please, Gianna, call me Aro. I hate being called sir, it makes me feel old." Aro began to laugh lightly and Gianna laughed with him. In truth, it was a joke that they'd all heard several times before with just about every receptionist they'd had, so the joke was long past being funny. "I have a little thing I need you to do."

"What do you need me to do?" Aro looked around and pretended to look like he was about to say something private. He brought his face closer to Gianna so that she would be under the impression that only she could hear what he was saying.

"One of the covens I know, close friends of mine really, have had a child last year. She's half human."

"That's wonderful news."

"Indeed it is. But I must confess, I feel rather envious of them for having such a unique child." Gianna's face remained unaware. "But then I realized we had a lovely woman working for us that I was hoping would be more than happy to remedy that for me." Gianna took her face away from Aro and looked at him with a shocked expression. She looked just as surprised as everyone else had when he first came up with the idea.

"My lord…..are you asking me to…..have your child?" Sulpicia hissed at what Gianna said and Aro shook his head.

"Of course not my child, silly girl. Why, my mate would serve our heads on a platter if we did such a thing." Gianna laughed with Aro when he said that. But she glanced over at Sulpicia and saw the look of death in her eyes. When she saw that, she stopped laughing. She had a feeling that it wasn't too far from the truth. She might not kill Aro for it, but she would certainly kill Gianna.

"Then whose child are you asking me to bear?" Aro brought his face closer to Gianna's again to make it seem like she was the only one that could hear him.

"Alec's." Gianna's eyes widened again and she stared at Aro for a moment trying to figure out whether or not he was really asking her what she thought he was.

"But, my Lord, Aro, he's fourteen." Everyone laughed to themselves at her statement. Aro merely shook his head with a big smile.

"He's older than that. He was seventeen when he died. I should know, I'm the one that changed him and Jane. He only looks younger than he is. That happens with British boys sometimes. It's a shame really." Aro smiled and patted Gianna's shoulder. Then he motioned for Demetri to come to him by jerking his head to the back right. "Demetri will take you to the most appropriate place for this little transaction. Hopefully, it won't take long to get you pregnant." Gianna's eyes widened.

"You mean you want to do this now?" Aro nodded as if it were obvious.

"Of course. The sooner the better. Alec's already waiting for you." Aro walked back to his throne and spoke again as he took his seat. "Needless to say, we are going to have to keep you here until the baby is born. We don't want to risk anything happening to you and harming the baby, now do we?" Then Aro motioned with his head for Demetri to take her to Alec.

Demetri tried to walk at a slower pace, but he was still going really fast. Gianna tried to keep up with him, but it was hard to walk in stiletto heels and when being pulled by a man that felt like granite ice. When they got to the floor where the room was, Demetri sped up and kept pulling Gianna with him to where they were going. Gianna wanted to ask questions or make conversation, but Demetri had always scared her, so she kept quiet and hoped, once again, for the best. When they got to the room that Demetri felt Alec's tenor was strongest, he opened the door and gently pushed Gianna into the room. When she was in, he closed the door behind her and went back to the main room.

Gianna saw Alec standing in the corner of the room pacing. She smiled nervously and walked a little closer to him. Alec held up his hand asking her to stop where she was. Gianna did as he asked and stayed put. Alec walked back and forth for a few more seconds while Gianna stood there and watched him. She was beginning to get impatient when Alec sighed and rubbed his face in frustration. Gianna walked a little closer to him until there was only a foot between them. Alec didn't acknowledge her this time. He just kept rubbing his face trying to clear his head.

"Is there anything you want me to do?" Gianna's statement made Alec glance at her through his fingers, then take his hands away from his face. He kept trying to breath, but it wasn't helping him.

"No, don't do anything. Just give me a minute to think." Gianna smiled weakly to herself in mild amusement.

"Mr. Alec, this isn't something that requires a great deal of thought."

Alec held his hand up asking her to be quiet. Alec hated this idea. Aro'd had a lot of not so perfect ideas in his long immortal life since Alec had joined centuries ago, but this was a little too much. Alec started feeling like he really would sleep with Jane if it meant not having to do this. At least he liked Jane. She was his sister. Gianna he never liked. He'd always thought of her as empty-headed and often a bit of a tramp. She seemed to be infatuated with Felix, which alone said a lot about her character in his opinion. There was no denying that Felix was an attractive man, but for god's sake, he was Roman. The man was born into a society that would have sex with a goat if all the men, women, and children weren't around and would upskirt any whore he came across. This thought went through Alec's mind in a tenth of a second, so Gianna didn't see him looking thoughtful for long. When he finally opened his eyes and looked at Gianna, he subtly took a deep breath that he already knew wouldn't do him any good at all.

"Well…..get on the bed and….we'll start from there I guess." Gianna didn't notice Alec stuttering and took a seat on the edge of the large bed in the elegant room.

The sheets of the bed were an ivory white. The stone of the room was medieval and grey with ivory fabrics like curtains and rugs all over the large room. Gianna looked around at all the pieces while she waited, not very long of course, for Alec. She started unbuttoning her blouse trying to get things moving along. But when she did that, he only looked away again and stared at the wall. Gianna looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then laughed to herself under her breath. Alec still heard her and looked at her with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"What's so funny?" She shook her head gently.

"You've never done this before, have you?" Alec didn't respond at first. Truth be told, he really never had done this before. He'd never found anyone he wanted to be with enough to do something like this. Half the time, he figured Jane was enough of a female companion that he never really wanted a woman in that way. But, in truth, that was none of Gianna's business. Instead of answering or commenting to her question, he tried to get things moving and over with.

"I really don't want to do this." Gianna shrugged.

"I won't lie, neither do I. If I have to do this, I'd rather do this with Felix."

"Of course you would you slut." Alec mumbled those words so low that Gianna didn't hear him.

"Did you say something?"

"No, nothing. Let's just get this over with." Gianna nodded and finished undoing her blouse and laid back on the bed and waited. Alec took another unhelpful deep breath and closed his eyes to concentrate. He tried to think of everything that might possibly arouse him. It wasn't helping much, though. Then Gianna crawled on the bed a little closer to Alec until she was sitting on the edge of the bed two feet away from him.

"Do you want me to stimulate you somehow?" Alec looked at her again.

"And how would you…." As Alec spoke, he realized what she meant and he shuddered. "Oh. That……No, no I don't want you to do that. Just give me a minute to clear my head." Gianna heavily breathed out and scooted back onto the bed and waited.

Alec started pacing again, desperately trying to think of anything he might find arousing. For a moment, he even pictured Jane naked, after everything else didn't work. He wasn't sure if he was angered or relieved when thinking of Jane naked immediately turned him off. On one side, at least he didn't have a sister complex, but on the other hand, now he'd undid anything thinking of naked women had done for him. He even tried thinking of naked men, just in case. He knew he was relieved when that only made him feel sick. Alec did, however, consider walking back to the main room and telling Aro he couldn't do it because he was gay. Aro would demand to hear it and wouldn't care either way.

"So what should we name the baby when it's born?" Alec looked at Gianna a little surprised by her question. He was taken off guard for a moment.

"I don't know. Why?" Gianna shrugged.

"I don't know. I just wondered." Alec sighed.

"Why, what would you want to name it?" Gianna grinned a little.

"Well, if it's a girl, I think we should name her Sofia. And if it's a boy, we should name him Santino." Alec shrugged, not really caring.

"Sure, whatever." Alec didn't see the point in forming an emotional attachment to something he didn't even want. Finally, he said more. "I can't think of a way around this." Gianna shrugged.

"I don't suppose artificial insemination would work." Alec laughed without humor.

"As nice as it sounds, Aro won't have the patience to arrange that. He'll figure going natural will be quicker." Alec looked at Gianna again. "When was your last period?"

"A few days ago." Alec finally smiled in blissful relief.

"Thank god. A child's as sure as spring." Gianna wasn't sure how true that was, but decided not to ruffle his feathers. She wasn't too thrilled with doing this either and she too was hoping they'd only have to do this once. Alec took in one more deep and worthless breath, then looked at Gianna. "Okay. Let's just get this over with."

Gianna nodded and took off her blouse which she'd already unbuttoned before. When it was off, she started working of the rest of her cloths. Alec, too, undressed just as awkwardly as she did. When they were both ready, Alec closed his eyes, and brought himself to Gianna, all the while trying not to breathe and not to think. While Alec was upstairs with Gianna, everyone else was in the main room waiting to see what would happen. Jane was in a foul mood due to the change in events for the day. She was mad that Aro would make Alec do such a thing and not give him an option to say no. It wasn't like Alec was the only male member of the coven that wasn't perfectly capable of getting Gianna pregnant.

Felix and Demetri had long since gone back to the lobby to finish watching Scrubs. To Felix' relief, there was a big marathon going on today, so he didn't need to worry about not getting to see enough of his favorite show. Demetri wasn't as big a fan, but there wasn't really much else to do. Felix and Demetri were, in their own way, best friends. Felix was usually the one Demetri would talk to about anything and so on. And there was always something that Demetri talked about to Felix that, in all truthfulness, had been getting on Felix' nerves for centuries. When a commercial came on, Demetri brought that exact thing up.

"Now that we're on a commercial, can I talk to you about something?" Felix sighed.

"If this has anything to do with Heidi, you already know what I'm going to tell you. Either tell her you like her and fuck her brains out, or shut the hell up about it." Demetri kept his sigh internal.

"But I don't think she likes me."

"My god, Demetri, you two have known each other for how many centuries now? You're worse than Miss. Fine and Mr. Sheffield from The Nanny."

"That is completely different. They at least knew they loved each other. Maxwell just had commitment issues and Fran was obsessed with getting married. Neither of those apply to me and Heidi."

"Of course not because you're too much of a pussy to tell her you like her in the first place." Demetri started giving Felix a dirty look. "And I must say that you've told me on more than one occasion that you not only like Heidi, you love her. I can't imagine the feeling wouldn't be mutual."

"There are plenty of relationships where the love is one sided."

"Maybe, but I don't think that applies to you two. And the commercials are over, so that mean no talking." Demetri contained his irritation and continued watching the show with Felix.

There wasn't much activity as everyone waited for Alec to come back. Jane was occupying her mind by talking to Heidi, much to Heidi's distaste. Jane wasn't giving very good conversation at the moment. She was so annoyed with what was happening, but not wanting to express it with Aro and Caius listening, that her responses to Heidi were limited and really brief. After a while, Jane simply decided to run to the library and read. Afton and Chelsea had gone off somewhere in the castle to be alone, or as alone as a couple could be in a large castle filled with vampires.

Corin ended up going to the library with Jane to read too. Out of boredom, Heidi decided to look for Demetri and talk to him. She knew he would most likely be with either Corin or Felix. She checked in the lobby first and was happy to see him there. When she came into the room, Demetri looked over at her and smiled almost shyly. Felix didn't turn to face Heidi. He kept watching the show and laughing at the argument between Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso about the full body scans he was offering. Demetri got up from the couch and followed Heidi out of the lobby and to one of the many roof top terraces on the castle. It was late afternoon, so the sun was going down anyway. As they left, Felix crossed his fingers that Demetri would, for once, take his advice, then laughed at the show again. When Demetri and Heidi got to the roof top, they sat together and watched the sunset.

"What a day, huh?" Demetri nodded.

"Yeah. I can't tell you how glad I am that Aro didn't make me do it."

"I wouldn't get excited yet. If this turns out well, Aro's going to want to do this again. And he might just want another tracker." Demetri lost his smile and rested his head on the stone railing. Heidi fought a laugh and smiled. "That never crossed your mind I see."

"No, it hadn't. Thank you so much for giving me something to worry about."

"It wouldn't be just you who needs to worry. I mean look at the others. Alec can make one dead to the world, you're the best tracker in the world as far as we know, Corin can physically slow down an opponent, and Afton can change anything into solid rock. He's got plenty of other options besides you."

"And what's to stop Aro from deciding to use all of us?" Heidi held a straight face for a moment, then smiled again.

"Shame on me for not thinking of that." Demetri made an internal groan.

"Shame on you indeed." Heidi giggled and patted Demetri's back.

"Well, maybe you'll all get lucky and this whole thing will blow up in Aro's face." Demetri shrugged.

"One can only hope." Heidi smiled and patted Demetri's back again.

About a half hour later, after talking for most of the afternoon, Renata came up to the terrace and told them they needed to come to the main room. Demetri and Heidi ran down the stairs and back to the main room and were there in seconds. Felix was already there with the same put out expression that he'd had the first time Aro had called everyone to the main room. Alec was in the room with everyone and Jane was by his side relentlessly primping him and trying to wash away Gianna's scent. Alec let her without complaint and seemed to be in a permanent state of repulsion. Aro didn't seem to be bothered by Alec's expression and was only happy to see that what he wanted done was done.

"So, Alec, I'm assuming it's done." Alec nodded while Jane was forcing open Alec's shirt and going over his chest with a damp, soapy rag. "Jane, calm down. He won't smell like Gianna forever."

"I don't want my brother to smell like her at all, ever." Aro chuckled under his breath and shook his head at her.

"Let's just hope she got pregnant. If it took this time, than we can expect our own little half breed in a matter of two weeks." Alec nodded.

"I really hope so." After Alec said that, Jane seemed to start scrubbing him even harder.

"She's still up there, right?" Alec nodded.

"I told her she should stay up there. I assumed you wanted her to." Aro smiled.

"Very good assumption on your part." Then Aro looked at Sulpicia. "My love, would you and Athenadora keep an eye on Gianna for a few days? Let me know when she starts showing symptoms of being pregnant. And Heidi, go out and steal a few first response pregnancy tests. From what I heard from Edward, three days should be enough time to know whether or not she's pregnant." Heidi nodded and rolled her eyes at Demetri to express to him her annoyance without Aro seeing and left to go to a convenience store near the castle. It was dark out now, so her being outside wouldn't be a problem.

As Heidi left, Sulpicia and Athenadora went up to the room where Gianna was to keep an eye on her. A few days later, as Aro hoped, Gianna suffered the first of many morning sicknesses. She took a pregnancy test just to be sure. Aro was even more thrilled when the test showed that single little pink line that confirmed that Gianna was pregnant. When they were sure, Alec finally breathed a sigh of true relief and so did Jane. She was ecstatic that Alec wouldn't have to sleep with her again. Alec was just as happy. Once it was for sure that Gianna was pregnant, Aro ordered her to be put on a strictly blood diet so they wouldn't have to deal with any more health problems than was needed. With the exception of Gianna, they all knew she was going to die, but Aro didn't want to risk anything happening to her while she was pregnant.

Sulpicia and Athenadora looked after Gianna during her pregnancy. Aro had wanted Alec to help them, but Alec politely insisted that he'd rather not be involved anymore than what was needed. He didn't think being around during Gianna's pregnancy was really needed. That and he just didn't want to look at her. He was desperately trying not to ever think about what they'd done together ever again. It was something that made him miss his human mind. Human minds could forget things. Right now, everyone was sitting in the main room waiting for Heidi to come back. Aro had ordered her to get as many humans as she could possibly fit in the main room. Aro thought Gianna getting pregnant was something worth celebrating. How odd that the father to be wasn't all that excited, if at all. When Demetri felt Heidi's tenor was close to the castle, he ran to the main entrance to greet her and all the humans she tricked into following her. Demetri waited to see Heidi as a large crowd of thirty or forty people walked passed him. By the time he saw Heidi singled out, he'd counted forty five.

"Forty five people, Heidi. That's a record." Heidi smiled at Demetri and nodded.

"It's the Minolos." Heidi was wearing a mini red dress with a pair of black Minolo shoes she'd taken the liberty of snatching a few days before. Demetri chuckled under his breath at her joke. "I see we still haven't hired a new receptionist yet." Demetri shrugged.

"We will once Aro gets around to it. You know how he tends to procrastinate." Heidi giggled.

"Indeed we all do." Demetri only smiled in humor, then looked over Heidi. "What are you looking at?" Her tone was teasing, but it still brought Demetri back to reality.

"You look nice is all." Heidi smiled and Demetri with an appreciative and teasing smile.

"I always thought I looked nice every day." Demetri's face was nervous, but he was trying his best to hide that.

"You do, it's just that dress looks nice on you." Heidi smiled and walked closer to him.

"Well thank you, Demetri, that's very sweet of you." Then Heidi kissed Demetri's forehead and walked on to the main room. Demetri was used to her doing that, so it didn't make him feel panicky. She liked teasing him. In truth, she teased anyone that gave her opportunity to.

Demetri and Heidi walked together behind the tourists she'd gathered to the main room so they could start their 'tour' as she had called it. All the humans Heidi had gathered were taking pictures of the tapestries and stone walls of the castle as they walked down the long hallway to the main room. The doors were wide open for the visitors and they all crowded into the room with Demetri and Heidi walking close behind them. When they were all in, Heidi and Demetri closed the doors behind them as Aro greeted them enthusiastically. They all looked at Demetri and Heidi in confusion when they heard the large doors close.

"Now, now, ladies and gentlemen, worry not." Then they looked back at Aro while he spoke and gave a little trivia here and there about the castle. Aro did this every time. He liked his prey to be relaxed and in a false sense of security. It made things less complicated as he always said. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, without further delay, let's start our tour."

When Aro said that, all the Volturi guard breathed a silent sigh of relief that he was done talking and they could indulge. Felix was the first to help himself. The moment Aro was done talking, Felix grabbed the closest human to him, a tall man about his height with blonde hair and age lines in Bermuda shorts and a bad tank, by the back of his tank, pulled the man to him, and bit into his neck.

They all looked at the man that was suddenly screaming for his life, then started screaming themselves at the sight of this handsome, pale olive toned man with dark hair, biting into the neck of one of the other tourists. The tourists all screamed and scattered, but wherever they went, there was a vampire ready to bite into their necks. Within seconds, each member of the Volturi had their teeth buried in someone's neck. The tourists that hadn't been claimed yet were running around the main room and slamming on the doors desperately trying to get it open. Everyone was screaming and some were holding crosses and begging for their lives. Whenever a member of the Volturi was done drinking the blood of one tourist, they would sigh contentedly for a mere instant, then make their way to their next victim.

Some of the tourists would try to fight back. They would try punching or slapping the vampires that would attack them. But they would only receive either a broken hand or were bitten in their wrist when the vampire grabbed their hand to stop the slap. When there were only a few humans left, all the Volturi members surrounded the remaining tourists and laughed to themselves as they trembled in fear. When they had them surrounded in the middle of the large room, they all jumped on a human and took a bite. The screams continued until the last human was dead from the loss of blood. When all the tourists were drained and dead, everyone breathed in the smell and admired their newly bright red eyes. Heidi smiled and patted Demetri's back again when she was standing next to him.

"Ah, the fruits of my labor." Her tone was teasing and playful. Demetri smiled at her with a small nod. Caius and Marcus immediately went back to their thrones and sat down when they were done with their piece. Aro smiled at Heidi's comment and looked around the room. Sulpicia went straight to his side and hugged him around his waist.

"Indeed, Heidi. You've done an excellent job yet again. You really outdid yourself this time." Heidi smiled.

"I try." Aro nodded in agreement, then looked at Sulpicia. After giving her a quick kiss on her forehead, he made his request.

"My darling, now that you and Athenadora have had some blood, would you please go back to Gianna and watch her?" Sulpicia smiled at Aro and nodded while Athenadora looked at Caius with an angry, pleading look. Caius shrugged and Athenadora rolled her eyes.

"Of course, love." Sulpicia kissed Aro, then looked at Athenadora and walked out of the main room. Athenadora reluctantly walked with her to the room Gianna was in.

The guards all went about their business for the day. They either talked to each other, went to the lobby to watch something good on, or went to the library to read. Demetri went with Heidi to the roof and they played cards together for a while. Afton and Chelsea were in the lobby with Corin, Alec, and Jane watching a Terminator marathon they found. Felix had been watching with them, but left as soon as Terminator 3 started. As far as he was concerned, the series went down from 2 and 4 didn't make up for the mockery 3 made of a great series. He left to go upstairs and play cards with Demetri and Heidi.

A few of the Volturi took the bodies to a place outside the city when it was night so they could burn them and dispose of them properly. When that was done, they came back and went about what they'd been doing.

As days went by, Gianna started to really look pregnant. By the end of four days, she already looked like she was at least six months pregnant. Gianna thought it was strange that the baby never seemed to kick or nudge or make any movement of any kind. Sulpicia and Athenadora were able to hear a heartbeat from the baby, so they disregarded Gianna's concerns about the baby's lack of movement. Alec did express some concern over this, but not to anyone but himself. Jane had even joked, not in front of Aro of course, that maybe the baby would be still born and Alec would be off the hook. Alec smiled when Jane said that, but for some reason, he didn't feel all that relieved about the possibility.

But as the days went by, Alec still refused to go to Gianna. After what had happened between them, he didn't want to see her ever again. He didn't plan to ever go in there. He knew Aro would demand he at least be near to collect the baby once it was born, but he didn't want to go back to that room for any other reason. When one looked at all the Volturi members, it was as if Gianna's pregnancy wasn't important at all. Sulpicia and Athenadora were asked to keep an eye on her, so they were the only ones that had any real contact with her. Even so, they never talked to Gianna. They would give her the donated blood and tell her to drink it, but that was about it.

When it had been a week and a half, Sulpicia and Athenadora watched her even closer. Sulpicia was going to be the midwife. Athenadora was to run to the main room and tell everyone it was time. They watched Gianna like hawks for the last few days she was expected to be pregnant. Gianna wasn't sure if she should feel safe that they were keeping such a close eye on her or if she should feel crowded. Either way, she figured it was better they were being watchful than negligent.

It was February 21st at nine at night, 2009. Everyone was doing their own things all over the castle. Most were in the main room talking while others were in the lobby and the library. Alec was sitting with Jane against a wall playing poker. That peace and quiet was disturbed when Athenadora came running down the hall and into the main room where she went right to Aro with a serious look on her face. Caius stood up in anticipation for her as did Aro.

"Is it time?" Aro asked. Athenadora nodded her head with the same seriousness that never faded.

"Her water just broke." That's when Alec instinctively stood at attention, as did everyone else in the room. Aro's smile widened and he clapped his hands together once.

"Wonderful. Go get everyone else and tell them to come in here. Help Sulpicia once you've done that." Then Aro looked at Alec. "Go upstairs and wait for the baby to be born. And when it is, bring it down here so we can see." Alec hid his initial nervousness and odd sick feeling as he nodded his head and ran upstairs and waited outside the door.

A minute after he was up there, Athenadora dashed into the room and didn't bother closing the door behind her. Alec's throat burned when he smelled the blood that was already present, but he did his best to ignore it. Gianna, at first, was only groaning in pain from the contractions she was suffering. But, not wanting to wait, Athenadora and Sulpicia performed a C-Section without any morphine, making Gianna start to scream. Alec stayed outside the room waiting for Athenadora and Sulpicia to be done. Eventually, he heard Gianna stop screaming, but her heartbeat hadn't stopped yet. And he heard the fast flutter heartbeat that he assumed to be the baby's. The baby wasn't crying, but he didn't think anything of it. Neither did Athenadora or Sulpicia. He heard Gianna scream again when he heard one of them bite into her and drink her blood. Then Athenadora came out and handed the baby to Alec.

"Here, it's a boy." With that said, Athenadora went back into the room and joined Sulpicia in draining Gianna of blood.

Alec looked towards where she'd been for a moment. Gianna had asked him to name the baby Santino if it were a boy. He had never been fond of the name, but somehow, it seemed to be suitable. Alec looked down at Santino and looked at him. But when he looked at his son, his eyes widened in horror. He knew the face Santino was making. It was the face of every victim that had ever suffered through Alec's power. It was a blank stare that seemed to have no purpose or reason. Santino's face looked lifeless and hollow as if he had no mind of his own. Alec stared at Santino in shock for a moment, then gently shook him in his arms, hoping the slight movement might make him cry or move or make any kind of response that showed he was alive to the world. It didn't help.

"Go, Alec. Aro wants to see the baby." He was taken out of his fearful stare when Athenadora poked Alec in the shoulder. He immediately composed his face and looked at her.

"Sorry." Without saying anything else, he started running downstairs with Athenadora and Sulpicia following close behind him. They reached the main room in less than a second and Aro stood from his throne in excitement the moment he saw them coming down the hall.

"Let us see the baby, Alec." Sulpicia spoke next with her mate's same joyful smile.

"It's a boy, my love. Little Santino." Aro smiled wider and clapped his hands once in joy.

"Simply wonderful. Bring him over to me, Alec. Let me see him." Caius, though happy himself, remained strictly business.

"What I care about is what this brat can do." Aro waved his hand dismissively at Caius.

"We'll get to that in a moment. Bring him here, Alec." Alec walked over, but he did it slowly. He was suddenly nervous about what Aro would say. Alec found it odd that he suddenly seemed to care so much.

As Alec walked to Aro, Aro started walking to Alec in anticipation for what he was hoping would be a great success. But when he was mere feet away from Alec, he saw the face on Santino's face and became confused. When he realized, an instant later, why the face was so familiar, his face went from confusion to horror and anger. Though his face was well composed, everyone could tell he was infuriated. Sulpicia walked closer to Aro about to ask him what was the matter, but then she looked at the baby and realized the problem.

"Oh my god." Sulpicia's voice was horrified, just like her face. Caius got up and walked to Alec and Santino to see what the problem was. Marcus followed, simply because he was eager to see how Aro's little plan blew up in his face. Marcus looked, then walked right back to his throne fighting his laugh at the irony of the situation. Caius was yelling the moment he saw Santino.

"What the hell is this?!" Alec kept his ground, but felt a sting at the way Caius said that. He kept a straight face, not wanting to make the situation worse.

"It's a baby, my dear." Caius glared at Athenadora for her little smart ass remark. She only shrugged. "Don't get mad at me. I just help deliver the little parasite." Once again, Alec felt a small sting at her words, but he kept his straight face and refused to let it show. Aro's voice was far more controlled and calm, but it was still angry and disappointed.

"Alec, please tell me you're using your power on him because you didn't want to hear him cry or something along those lines." Alec was about to speak, but Sulpicia spoke instead.

"He wasn't crying at all when we pulled him out. He wasn't moving or crying or anything." Aro looked like he was fighting to stay calm. Caius wasn't even bothering.

"So what, he's still born?!" Athenadora spoke next.

"No, he's not still born. If he were still born, we would have told you that!"

"Well, then what's wrong with him, then?!" Everyone was silent when they saw Marcus touch Aro's shoulder for a second, then take his hand away. Aro sighed. "What?!"

"It's the reverse of Alec's power. Santino's still alive, but he's a vegetable for lack of a better word."

"And what good is that to us?!" Aro rolled his eyes at Caius.

"Calm down Caius. I'm sure we can fix this." Then Aro looked at Alec. "See what you can do to fix this. Do everything you can to make this child useful." Caius voice was low, but still angry when he spoke.

"And what if he can't fix it?" Aro sighed again.

"Then let him die." Alec tried his best to keep a straight face when Aro said that. He looked at Santino and felt an odd pain in his chest at the look on his face.

He was such a beautiful child. He had dark blonde hair, probably a combination of his and Gianna's hair color, brown eyes, and his face was a perfect combination of him and Gianna. As much as he disliked Gianna, he had to admit that her nose was very becoming on Santino. And her ears were precious on him. He even had Gianna's full lips. But the rest, one could tell, was Alec. His shaped eyes, his cheek bones, his chin, even his hands and feet. Alec felt an odd determination that he never thought he would have before. He felt the need to save this little child that he didn't even want. But he didn't let it show on his face. The last thing he needed was to be criticized for already being attached. Alec only looked at Santino for an instant before looking back at Aro and Caius. Both still looked aggravated. Marcus didn't look surprised at all about the turn of events.

"Well that's a waste. We come out with nothing. How do you plan to fix that little tidbit, Aro?" Aro gave Caius a stern look.

"I'll think of something. Just give me a moment." Aro looked thoughtful for a moment. He looked like he came up with a solution after a minute. "We could try again." Alec's eyes did widen again.

"You can't be serious. We'll only get the same result." Aro shook his head.

"Yes, if we use Alec." Alec breathed out in relief that he wasn't going to make him try again. He knew he'd only get the same result. It wasn't even that he didn't want another child anymore. It was the fact that he didn't think he could handle going through something like this again. "But not if we use someone else." Alec looked at Marcus, who was rolling his eyes and breathing out in annoyance.

"And who do you plan to use this time?"

Everyone stiffened again and looked at Aro. Chelsea grabbed Afton's hand and started clutching onto him protectively. Afton let go of her hand and wrapped that arm around her while she grabbed onto his other hand and clutched onto him just as hard. Heidi looked at Demetri with concern and stayed close to him. Corin and Felix stood alone, and that made them feel all the more tense. Aro looked at all his male guards thoughtfully trying to pick someone he thought would be a good choice. Finally, Aro thought about what would be the best choice, looked at who he'd chosen with a stern look and spoke with a voice that was just as stern.

"Demetri." Everyone except Demetri finally relaxed. Heidi looked at him and patted his back in an attempt to be reassuring. Demetri didn't change his expression, but he could feel himself getting sick. "I think another tracker would be a wonderful idea." Aro didn't say this with nearly as much enthusiasm as he had before. "Go out and pick someone. I don't care who. I expect you back here with someone before morning. Is that clear?" Demetri nodded respectfully.

"Yes, sir." Heidi kept patting his back, but it wasn't helping, though he was glad Heidi was at least trying to make him feel better. But Aro was in no mood for sympathy.

"That means now, Demetri."

Demetri breathed uselessly and nodded respectfully. Then he turned and walked out of the room with Heidi following after him. Aro tried to get himself to relax and took a seat on his throne. Sulpicia took a seat on his lap and tried to help calm him. Athenadora sat on the arm of Caius' chair and ran her fingers through his hair soothingly while Marcus sat in his chair with a look on his face that almost said, 'I told you so'.

Alec took Santino with him to the corner of the large main room and started thinking of what he could do to possibly heal his son. Jane stood close to him and tried to tell him that it he should feel relieved. It seemed like he might actually be off the hook. But no matter how much she tried, Alec wouldn't respond to her or talk to her at all. Jane became extremely aggravated with that and started giving Santino a look of death, but didn't say anything to Alec. Everyone else was finally relaxed and avoiding Aro and Caius by leaving for the library or the lobby. Chelsea took Afton to one of the many rooms so she could vent to him in private. Demetri walked all the way up to the highest tower of the castle and looked out onto the city. Heidi was standing behind him.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Demetri looked at Heidi a moment before answering. He didn't want to admit to her that he didn't want to go alone, but the truth was that he didn't. And if he was going to take anyone with him, it would be Heidi. Besides, she would be able to help him get someone.

"Would you?" She smiled and nodded her head.

"Of course, Demetri." He smiled back at her and waited for her to get to the edge where he was. When she was, he was about to jump off, but she took his hand. They looked at each other a moment before they both smiled. Then they looked down below at the city nightlife and jumped off into the city and ran around to look for someone they thought would be okay.

Alec and Jane remained in the main room. Alec looked at Santino thinking of anything he could possibly do. Jane stayed quiet seeing as Alec was too occupied with Santino. She looked at his face and couldn't understand what he was thinking. Alec's face was blank and seemed indifferent, but he still looked like he was concentrating. It was the first time she could remember not knowing exactly what he was thinking. Finally, after spending an hour of not talking, Jane couldn't take the silence between them anymore.

"Alec." Alec didn't say anything. "Leave it for a while. Maybe it'll wear off." Alec didn't say anything still. He didn't want to risk yelling at Jane. She'd spent most of the time an hour ago telling him that he was off the hook, and now she was basically telling him that he was wasting his time. Jane, of course, wasn't going to take silence as an answer. "Could you please say something?" Alec kept his sigh internal and his voice calm.

"Fine. Shut up, I'm working." Jane's eyes went wide at his words. Never in all their years, not even when they were human as she recalled, had Alec ever told Jane to shut up. She wanted to say more, but she thought against it and decided to leave Alec alone.

Alec looked at Santino a moment, then a thought came to him. He wondered if maybe he could reverse the effect by using his power on him. He did that and watched Santino. But when he did that, Santino's heart stopped and he stopped breathing. Alec immediately stopped and breathed at last when Santino's heart was beating and he was breathing again. Obviously, that wasn't going to work. Alec noticed that Aro and Caius were staring at him while he was trying to help Santino. Alec tried to ignore them while he kept thinking of what he could do. After a few hours of just looking at Santino and not having any idea what to do, Aro lost his patience and spoke.

"Alec." Alec looked at Aro. "Don't bother. I'm sure we'll get a good result with Demetri. Just let it be." Alec nodded his head, doing his best not to say anything. He felt himself getting angry with everyone for daring to reduce Santino to a 'thing'. Instead of disposing of Santino, though, he took him to one of the rooms in the castle and placed Santino on a bed. And after that, he did everything he could, not letting himself be deterred by anything anyone said.