Convince Me Part 1

                If there was any part of this ‘life’ that I hated, it was the meetings, the debating, and the gossiping: court. What an annoyingly meticulous thing to have to endure.
My father, Carlisle Cullen, was in control, and he was the one who decided to hold court here in Volterra. When I became ruler, I vowed to abolish it. I supremely detested it, not only due to the tedious amount of pointless conversation – I read all their minds anyways, what could they possibly say without first thinking it? – but also because Mother insisted on having me meet a number of eligible and ‘suitable’ vampire ladies. Eligible they might be, but they were far from suitable.
I hated all of them. They were all the same: icily beautiful, cutthroat, supremely bitchy, and wholly demanding. If anyone thought the men ran the show around Volterra, they were deathly wrong.
The female dominance was especially evident in the relationships of my parents, or my brothers and sisters. Esme, my mother, practically told my father when to hunt and what, and how to run the city. My ‘sisters,’ – we were not related in any way - Rosalie and Alice, ruled over their husbands, my ‘brothers’ Emmett and Jasper, with iron fists, Rosalie because she was self-absorbed, and Alice because she was overenthusiastic.
So I was the only man of the ruling Cullens who had yet to find himself a bitch wife. The ‘crown prince,’ as I was so affectionately dubbed, with no ice princess!
Aside from bitchy women and the annoyance of court, Volterra was a vampire’s dream: Italy was full of overcurious tourists to feed off of, and tourists always went missing anyways, so they were essentially write-offs and no one ever bothered to think twice about their disappearance. We were the best at our way of life, and had it down to an art.
That’s why the Swans had perplexed me so.
I was sitting, as I usually did, on the smaller throne to the right of my father, slightly behind him – we were thousands of years old and still very feudal and traditional – when I picked up on a certain word in his thoughts: vegetarian. What had he meant by it? Then he said it aloud.
“It seems we have a very strange situation, friends,” My father sighed openly, looking down onto the group of attentive red eyed monsters below the dais where we were situated, “About two centuries ago, a small vampire coven established themselves in Alaska, and changed their feeding habits. They decided to feed solely on animals, and coexist peacefully alongside humans in human society. At the time, my daughter Alice did not see them surviving. It seems that they are still, in fact, alive, and have moved to the small town of Forks, Washington. It is at this time that I would like to send a few of our people to meet with them and try to gain more understanding about their strange way of life.”
He had finished his speech, and as the group began to chatter amongst themselves, I glared at him from my chair. He had left something out.
I had no time to bring it up though, because he was speaking again.
“Court is adjourned. Go in peace,” That was my father. I shook my head as Carlisle stood up in front of me. A room full of vampires, and he was concerned about all of us going in peace. We were all going to hell in pieces as far as I knew.
“Emmett, Edward, come here,” My father called from across the hall, and I met my brother halfway and ran to where we had been beckoned.
“Yes Father?” I asked, though I could hazard a guess at what he wanted. That was more for Emmett’s benefit.
“Walk with me,” He demanded, politely enough. As we obliged he explained, “I want you both to go to Forks with Felix and Demetri. You will leave tomorrow at dawn. Felix and Demetri are already aware.”
He dismissed Emmett with a wave of his hand and he ran off in the other direction, no doubt to Rosalie.
He had more to say to me, I knew. “There is another reason I want you to accompany them, Edward. As I’m sure you are aware, you are the next in line to the title of ruler here, and once my term comes to end in another 500 years, you will be taking over.” He smiled sideways at me and inclined his head, then stopped walking abruptly and turned to face me. “However, as the laws of Volterra are set, you cannot take over without first being married.”
Oh great, so it was back to the bitch wife thing. I narrowly avoided rolling my eyes in front of him, and instead replied, “Yes Father, I’m more than aware of our laws.”
“Good,” He smiled again, “Now, the Swan coven in Forks has two females: one is married to the male, and the other is their daughter. As I am told, she was their daughter in their human life as well. You must go with Emmett, Felix and Demetri, and convince the younger female to marry you.”
“Convincing her will be difficult Father,” I reminded him, voicing his thoughts.
“Yes Edward, she does have an unusual talent which would be extremely valuable to our city.” Carlisle knew he didn’t have to explain himself to me, but I believe he was trying to hold normal conversation. “She would be an excellent co-ruler for you, and I am sure you will find her to your liking.”
“Father, you’ve never met her,” I broke away from my polite mask to turn away as I said harshly, “She’s probably the same as every vampire female here!”
Carlisle flinched, well aware of how the vampire females here were, and sympathized with me, “She’s a vegetarian, Edward, how much different can she get from these females?”
“I suppose that is true sir,” I agreed, “I will try to convince her to marry me, if her talent allows me to convince her at all.”
“Good luck, son,” He squeezed my shoulder in a rare attempt to level with me, and walked away.
I stood there a great many minutes before I realized I didn’t even know the girl’s name.
Bella.
I’d heard it as clearly as if my father was beside me, and I supposed he must have realized what he didn’t tell me.
Bella eh? Well her name sounded promising: I hoped she was more beautiful, as her name implied, than bitchy at least.