Title: Fallen Mercy

Rating: T

Once upon an ancient time, when people shuddered at the whisper of witchcraft, in a land far, far away from you and I, there were born identical twins, a girl and a boy. The midwife shrieked and dropped the babes upon the floor, she would not touch something so unholy. The husband of the mother who had given birth to these unnatural demons turned away, he could not bear to look at her. But the gentle lady, shaking with the exhaustion of the difficult birth, picked the babes off the floor and tucked them close to her bosom. She was charmed by their angel faces, the marvel of their life.

I am Alec Volturi, my soul belongs to the royal coven the Volturi located in Volterra, Italy. I am the servant of Aro, Marcus, and Caius, as is my twin sister Jane. I have the gift of darkness, a creeping, weeping ooze that will plunge all your senses into oblivion if it touches you. This is my life as an undead creature of the night. This is the life penned out on the pages I was supposed to have a choice on.

The children suffered the unfortunate fate of being both twins and being two different sexes, it was devil work, the villagers were sure. They urged the woman to drown them, throw them into the cutting river, a swift and easy death. She refused. The husband, disgusted with her stubborn ways, took to beating her and the toddlers. Eventually, mercifully, he took a mistress and went away.

This is why I do not defy the ones who rule me, body and spirit.

Alexander and Janice knew hatred and pain from their father, distrust from the villagers, but they also knew love. Their mother hugged them and kissed them, she shielded them the best she could. But she had been weak ever since the day she gave birth. And so, on the twin's seventh birthday, they came home to her lying on the floor, dead as can be.

The fragile little vampire screamed in pain as Felix jerked her head upwards by her thick hair so that her face was turned toward the regal three in the thrones. Aro was deceitfully sorrowful, Caius was smirking, and Marcus was completely indifferent to the pitiful figure's whimpers. I held onto Jane's hand and kept my face smooth as Dimitri dragged another girl forward and forced her to look at our Masters as well.

"Ah, so it has come to this," Aro let out a breathy sigh, "Beatrice, Belinda, you two are such beautiful girls. Why, oh why must you defy us? You must have known you could not have possibly won."

The twins continued to meander through life, muddling through it the best they could. They discovered they had special abilities, privy only to them. Janice could send out hateful glares that made people flinch and give her anything she desired. Alexander had the power to make people lethargic and slow, while they were still trying to shake off the unearthly sleep, he could filch whatever he wanted from their home.

Belinda, the second girl to be dragged in, spat at Aro. She was backhanded violently by Dimitri. Beatrice shrieked in surprise and reached for her sister, only to be knocked backwards by Felix. I watched impassively as Dimitri twisted off Belinda's arm and tossed it carelessly to one side to force her into submission. It worked. The pain held Belinda's temperamental behavioral problems at bay. She gasped out her pitiful reasons, her lies about how Aro was not a benevolent ruler but a ruthless tyrant, about how our government was corrupt. Behind her, her blonde haired sister sobbed tearlessly.

Rocks were thrown, talismans against evil were held up, and holy water was sprinkled whenever they trekked through the village. But even the villagers were not exempt from being charmed and horrified by the twins growing beauty. Janice and Alexander's handsome, identical faces haunted their dreams.

When the twins turned thirteen, they decided they had enough of the unnaturalness that infested them.

Beatrice and Belinda were two German sisters that Felix and Dimitri had brought in from Berlin. Beatrice was older, yet meeker, and Belinda was aggressive and ignorant. The two beauties had been stirring up the local vampires, urging them to rouse themselves and march to Italy to overthrow the Volturi. The rumors had traveled like an all consuming wildfire, it soon reached us. Felix and Dimitri had gone after them… and returned victorious in a fore night.

When the twins turned thirteen, the ignorant, phenomenon hating villagers decided they had enough of the unnaturalness that infested them.

Now, they were sentenced to death for treason.

Aro wanted to make it seem like a fair trial, although all of us assembled already knew the outcome. He listened patiently to Belinda's wheezing excuses, and then had me make the siblings blind, deaf, and mute as he pretended to consult with Caius and Marcus. After having me remove the blindfolds he proclaimed their sentence.

"You are to die by burning. May your tainted souls find some peace."

They built a huge fire, tied the twins to wooden stakes and prepared to burn them alive. Ah, alas, alas, this was not to be. Creatures of the night flitted out from the darkness and took the villager's lives and saved the children from a wretched death. The creatures gave the thirteen year olds new life. But was this life any less agonizing?

They were not given the gift of darkness, of oblivion as the fire consumed their flesh. They were not mourned as their bones charred into dust. Their ashes were not prayed over, nor were they treated respectfully. When nighttime wove its dark fingers through Volterra, a lesser guard member was sent to dump them into the nearby polluted river, already the recipient of hundreds of thousands of lives like the two sisters over the many millennia's.

Eternally hated, never loved. Will they ever find peace?

This is the legacy of the Volturi. Make of it what you will.

The End?

Hello Everyone, It's me Blackangeldust. Some of you may remember me from my previous account, but I was forced to delete it. This is my new account and I am reposting all my stories, and making them better while I'm at it. Stay tuned. Thank you all!

Love from RavennaAngelous