Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer [11]
Id had to swallow back the bile that rose in my throat as Id pictured what he was describing.
They were very beautiful, Carlisle had explained quickly, seeing my reaction. So endearing, so enchanting, you cant imagine. You had but to be near them to love them; it was an automatic thing.
However, they could not be taught. They were frozen at whatever level of development theyd achieved before being bitten. Adorable two-year-olds with dimples and lisps that could destroy half a village in one of their tantrums. If they hungered, they fed, and no words of warning could restrain them. Humans saw them, stories circulated, fear spread like fire in dry brush
Tanyas mother created such a child. As with the other ancients, I cannot fathom her reasons. Hed taken a deep, steadying breath. The Volturi became involved, of course.
Id flinched as I always did at that name, but of course the legion of Italian vampires-royalty in their own estimation-was central to this story. There couldnt be a law if there was no punishment; there couldnt be a punishment if there was no one to deliver it. The ancients Aro, Caius, and Marcus ruled the Volturi forces; Id only met them once, but in that brief encounter, it seemed to me that Aro, with his powerful mind-reading gift-one touch, and he knew every thought a mind had ever held-was the true leader.
The Volturi studied the immortal children, at home in Volterra and all around the world. Caius decided the young ones were incapable of protecting our secret. And so they had to be destroyed.
I told you they were loveable. Well, covens fought to the last man-were utterly decimated-to protect them. The carnage was not as widespread as the southern wars on this continent, but more devastating in its own way. Long-established covens, old traditions, friends Much was lost. In the end, the practice was completely eliminated. The immortal children became unmentionable, a taboo.
When I lived with the Volturi, I met two immortal children, so I know firsthand the appeal they had. Aro studied the little ones for many years after the catastrophe theyd caused was over. You know his inquisitive disposition; he was hopeful that they could be tamed. But in the end, the decision was unanimous: the immortal children could not be allowed to exist.
Id all but forgotten the Denali sisters mother when the story returned to her.
It is unclear precisely what happened with Tanyas mother, Carlisle had said. Tanya, Kate, and Irina were entirely oblivious until the day the Volturi came for them, their mother and her illegal creation already their prisoners. It was ignorance that saved Tanyas and her sisters lives. Aro touched them and saw their total innocence, so they were not punished with their mother.
None of them had ever seen the boy before, or dreamed of his existence, until the day they watched him burn in their mothers arms. I can only guess that their mother had kept her secret to protect them from this exact outcome. But why had she created him in the first place? Who was he, and what had he meant to her that would cause her to cross this most uncrossable of lines? Tanya and the others never received an answer to any of these questions. But they could not doubt their mothers guilt, and I dont think theyve ever truly forgiven her.
Even with Aros perfect assurance that Tanya, Kate, and Irina were innocent, Caius wanted them to burn. Guilty by association. They were lucky that Aro felt like being merciful that day. Tanya and her sisters were pardoned, but left with unhealing hearts and a very healthy respect for the law
Im not sure where exactly the memory turned into a dream. One moment it seemed that I was listening to Carlisle in my memory, looking at his face, and then a moment later I was looking at a gray, barren field and smelling the thick scent of burning incense in the air. I was not alone there.
The huddle of figures in the center of the field, all shrouded in ashy cloaks, should have