Can't Help Falling In Love

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, setting, etc. are property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Prologue

The Volturi sat on their thrones, as they did on any other day and watched the vampire that stood before them. She had come from North America, the Southern United States more specifically, with something important to tell them. Or at least, that was what she'd said. For the moment, just how important what she had to say really was had yet to be seen. Many vampires came before the Volturi, claiming to have important information on some subject or other, but most were, as was with most humans, just in it for themselves. Some were looking for a reward, others simply wanted to see the castle and say they'd met the Volturi. Some had ulterior motives and tried to trick the Volturi into helping them get something they wanted. Usually, it was revenge. And usually, these vampires that disturbed the Volturi, without a valid reason for doing so, never saw the outside of the castle, or anything else for that matter ever again.

"Well?" Marcus stared at the woman, having already forgotten her name and why it was she'd come. She seemed excited, almost to the point of being anxious and she seemed angry. He could tell just by looking at her for her a split second that she seemed very angry about... something. He was almost curious enough to wonder about what it was that made her so angry, but he didn't care enough to ask her.

"We were told you have some information for us," said Aro. He leaned forward in his seat, just barely hiding his excitement, though he seemed more interested in something other than any potential information she might have.

Caius nodded abruptly at the vampire and remained seated. He did not show any interest in her, but didn't make a show of being disinterested either.

Aro continued to stare at her, curiosity growing by the second. He could have easily reached out, touched her and learned everything she knew, including what she had supposedly come to tell them, but it was always more fun to see what a vampire had to say, what partial truth or complete lie they were going to tell before learning the real truth.

The woman stared back at them. "I have some very important information for you-"

"You will stop with the pleasantries," said Caius. He spoke softly, but there was no doubt what he'd said was a command.

The woman nodded. "Jasper Whitlock. You've been looking for him, though perhaps not by name. He played a big part in one of the warring covens, my coven, in the southern territories and I've heard that he's started raising a newborn army in the North. He left me some time ago, but that did seem to be his goal. He kept talking about wanting his own territory and he kept saying that the North looked like the perfect place to do that, what with there being no competition. I've come to warn you so you can stop him." Once she finished, she looked straight at Aro, almost as if she was daring him to question what she'd just said.

Caius laughed. "And you've, what, come to tell us because, why exactly?" A newborn army being created was the sort of thing the Volturi liked to look into, but there was something about the woman, how she'd offered up the information without asking for anything in return; almost all vampires with actual, useful information did ask for something, that didn't sit quite right.

"I wanted to warn you so that you could act and solve this before it becomes a problem. That is what you do, isn't it?" The woman smiled, but it was completely and utterly false. It was obvious that she was desperately trying to hide alternative motivations.

"Come here, please." Aro nodded at the woman and held out his hand. For a half second, she faltered and did not move at all. Aro nodded again and she moved forward. She extended her hand to him and visibly braced herself.

A moment later, Aro knew everything. Knew that this woman, Maria, had not come simply to warn them and prevent disaster but that she'd come to seek what she considered justice, which was really no more than the desired revenge of a spurned creator and lover. He also knew that almost everything she'd said had been a lie. Jasper Whitlock had, as far as Aro could see, no plans of gaining territory of his own. He had, until recently, been assisting her in running her territory by training the newborns for her army until, quite abruptly, he'd decided to leave her. Why he'd done so was unclear. But Aro knew with an almost one hundred percent certainty that it wasn't to start his own army. For all Aro knew, it might very well have been because he was tired of all the fighting and all the battle scars. As he had seen, this Jasper was covered in scars, signs of damage from previous fights. It was highly unattractive.

Another thing, and this excited Aro greatly, was that this Jasper Whitlock had a rather peculiar gift - the ability to affect and, if trained properly, to corrupt, someone's emotional state. Aro's eyes glazed over in the mere thought of what power Jasper would bring to the Volturi.

He looked over at Caius and smiled. "She is worse than completely useless, but the vampire she speaks of, Jasper Whitlock, should be brought here immediately. From what I've just seen, he will prove very useful."

Caius nodded and snapped his fingers. The guards, who had up until now been standing silently in front of the doors, moved forward. Caius nodded towards Maria and, before she had the chance to react, the guards' strong hands were on her. She struggled. She kicked and bit and swore, but her actions were, as Aro had so recently said she herself was, useless. It took only seconds for the guards to tear her limb from limb. Neither one appeared to take any joy from the experience. Rather, they both looked as though this was so commonplace that it was absolutely devoid of any interest for either of them. They made short work of piling her now destroyed body into a pile in the center of the room. One of them pulled a match from a pocket hidden within his long, swirling cloak and lit it. Without any fanfare whatsoever, he threw the match onto the pile of rubble that had previously been Maria and watched as the flames began to consume the pieces.

Both guards nodded, their work finished and stepped back to the doors, standing in place without moving, without so much as breathing. They were so still it was as though they were living statues, which, in a way, they were.

Aro watched the flames lick at the sparkling, diamond hard skin and watched as it began to slowly tear it apart. He smiled. It was amusing, this woman who had thought so much of herself, a woman who had been so completely arrogant as to lie to them, now amounted to nothing more than a pile of broken bits of jagged stone.

He looked over at Caius again and smiled. This time it was a smile comparable to the excited smile of a young child eagerly awaiting opening a present and playing with a new toy. "From what I've seen, I think it would be wise to send Alec, Jane and Demetri to find this Jasper. They should have no trouble bringing him back."

Again, Caius simply nodded.