The True History of the Cullen Family

A Child's Tale

That evening, Jacquelyn found herself sitting with the Volturi in the dining room. Even though the ancient vampires had no need to eat human food, Aro had seen to it that Jacquelyn was fed.

He said, "Now tell us your story and so not leave anything out."

Jacquelyn sighed and for the next three hours, she described everything to the old vampires. Her birth; her early life on Fleet Street in London, England; her mother taking her to Italy; her mother's death; her being sent to a foster family; her doubts and fears; her decision to run away; and finally, how she came to find Elbert and make him pay for her mother's death.

Aro smiled and said, "That was a marvelous story! Such a shame about your poor mother; she seemed like a wonderful person."

"I agree," said Caius, "and I would like to add that you did the right thing by coming here. The way I see it, the human world has no place for girls like you, as you have rejected the world's ideas of what a girl should be like."

Marcus frowned and said nothing.

Jasper stood up and said, "You've kept her long enough; I shall take her and retire to my chambers now." He took Jacquelyn and they left the dining hall.

"Such a nice girl," Aro smiled. "I do hope that we see her again soon."

"Not too soon, I hope," Caius said as Jane glared at them both.

*****

As soon as they were back in Jasper's room, Jasper said, "You must be real lucky impressing them. Very few humans who Aro meets escape from him with their humanity intact; not that he won't decide to turn you, of course."

Jacquelyn noticed a bed in the darkest corner of the room and Jasper said, "You should rest here tonight, you must have had a rough journey getting here." She nodded and pulled at the dress, until Jasper slipped the dress over her unnaturally thin shoulders and set it in a chair.

As soon as he was out for another round of light snacking, Minerva crawled out of the basket and said, "How did it go?"

"Not too bad," said Jacquelyn. "But I have a feeling that he is imprisoned in his mind and he must be set free."

"So we shall free him," said Minerva. "But before we free him, we must learn about him so we'll know who and what we're saving him from."

Jacquelyn nodded and crawled into bed; it had been a long day for her and the snakes. But she knew that it was not over yet, not as far as Jasper was concerned...