Old Soul

Chapter Eighteen: Vampire History 101

"I wasn't there for the beginning portion of their history," Carlisle starts. "I'm old, but not that old. So this is just what I've learned from Tanya—the coven's current leader.

"They started in the Kingdom of Hungary—now known as Slovakia. Tanya wasn't quite sure when Sasha was made, but it had to be at least 1000 AD, as Tanya was turned in the 1010's, with Kate and Irina not long after her. Sasha was lonely—one of the more common reasons our kind turn humans. It's the reason I turned Edward in the first place. Sasha was a biological aunt of Tanya's, and after Sasha turned her, Tanya saw her as a mother."

"What happened to Tanya's parents? Or any of her other close family, for that matter?"

"There were some violent conflicts over land in the 1010's, Boleslaw the Great of Poland seized land, King Stephen took them back. Tanya's family was killed in the crossfire. She had three younger sisters, she was wracked with grief when she came home to find them all slaughtered. She was incredibly grateful to her aunt for taking her in, though at this point Sasha knew she was going to turn Tanya, so they would always have each other. Sasha was very maternal in that way, among others."

"Was?" I ask, picking up on Carlisle's consistent use of the past tense.

"Yes, was. Sasha was killed, rather, executed by the Volturi—the vampire council, I suppose you could call them. They established and maintain law and order in our world." Carlisle's tone takes an interesting lilt, as though he's trying his hardest to be diplomatic.

"You know them?"

"I lived with them for a few decades. They were not pleased with my way of life, nor I theirs, so eventually I left, as there was no chance in converting them over, nor was there a chance for them to sway my conviction. Over the years they've been becoming more corrupt, in a sense. Aro, the leader, has been slowly blinded by his greed."

I swallow nervously. "Greed for what?"

"Power, blood, vampires with special abilities, take your pick. Don't worry about them for now, they're only a small portion of this story." Carlisle flashes me a reassuring smile. "In the early 1000's, there was a... shall we call it a plague? Of sorts. There are rules that we, as vampires, are supposed to follow. One of those rules, one of the strictest to be upheld is that no children may be turned. Of course, this resulted from many vampires changing human children. They were precious and beautiful, inspiring nothing but adoration from their creators. But vampiric children, just as human children are wont to do, could not be restrained or taught any sort of discipline. They could slaughter entire towns easily, the humans, entranced, would walk right into their deaths..." Carlisle trails off, thinking of the loss of human life. He shakes himself and turns his topaz eyes back to me.

"Which of course is not good for vampires who are trying to live undetected. The Volturi made it law that no children could be made immortal, anyone found in possession of one would be killed—entire covens if necessary."

"What age is considered the turning point?" I ask, absorbed in the story.

"That's where it becomes unclear. There have been whispers that the Volturi kept the law vague in order to use the flexibility massacre covens and collect the powerful vampires within them—a practice they have maintained throughout history. Aro himself turned two twelve-or-thirteen-year-olds himself, but no one dares contest them due to their power and closeness with Aro."

"And because they're creepy." Emmett adds, throwing in a theatrical shiver for my benefit.

"Anyhow, it was in the mid-1100s when Sasha was found to have an immortal child that she made without Tanya, Kate, and Irina's knowledge. The Volturi, in a rare act of mercy, spared Tanya and her sisters because of their innocence. Sasha intentionally kept it from them in order to save them when she was inevitably caught. No one, not even Tanya, knows why she did it. Sasha and the child, Vasilii were killed. Ever since, the sisters have been model vampires, terrified of the Volturi." I chuckle at the oxymoron.