It opens to a reception area, where there is always a very polite human to receive visitors, as well as several inconspicuous surveillance cameras. All the doors in the room lead to dead-end, innocuous offices, and the elevator is heavily secured. This door is never used by the Volturi, their guard, or anyone who has real business with them. The elevator leads to another reception area, with even higher security.
The castle can also be accessed from Volterra‘s sewers. Several drainage holes in the stone-paved streets lead to often-used Volturi passageways. These drains are covered by iron grilles that are too heavy to be lifted by several human men together. These passages also lead to the second reception area, where the human in charge is aware of the nature of her bosses.
Thanks to Heidi‘s gift, when she asks her tourists to follow her into the beautiful, ancient tunnel that leads to an amazing castle, none of them refuse.
The most often used door is not actually located within the city. Rather, this door is located in the cellar of an ancient church outside the walls, somewhat hidden in the hills. Heidi‘s tours always end in this quaint, concealed historical landmark located beside a small private landing strip (owned by the Volturi). Just in case someone were to recognize the Tuscan landscape, there is no cell-phone service available. Thanks to Heidi‘s gift, when she asks her tourists to follow her into the beautiful, ancient tunnel that leads to an amazing castle, none of them refuse. This tunnel bypasses both reception areas and leads directly to the Volturi turret.
The turret contains the main meeting room of the Volturi, and also the dining room. They have made no attempt to make it comfortable for humans; the stone walls are not insulated, and there is no heat or cooling or artificial lighting. The room is lit by the arrow slits high above. The lone furnishings are three massive thronelike chairs that belong to Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They use these thrones when they are acting as magistrates, hearing cases against vampires who have infringed on the law. In the center of the room is a slight depression that contains a drainage grate. The Volturi dispose of the bodies of their victims through this hole, which sits above a very deep cavern. Routinely, these remains are reduced en masse by acid.
―EDWARD WILL BE UNDER THE CLOCK TOWER, TO THE NORTH OF
THE SQUARE.‖
— Alice, to Bella (New Moon, Chapter 20)
The Amazon Coven
―THE REUNITED AMAZONS HAD BEEN ANXIOUS TO RETURN HOME AS
WELL — THEY HAD A DIFFICULT TIME BEING AWAY FROM THEIR BELOVED
RAIN FOREST….‖
— Bella (Breaking Dawn, Chapter 39)
The Amazon coven consists of three sisters, Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna, all natives of the Pantanal wetlands. The sisters never interact with humans except when hunting; they do not associate with them or make any pretense of behaving in a human way. They are feral in appearance and rarely leave the unpopulated wetlands except to hunt. Few vampires — including the Volturi — have ever heard of this coven.
KACHIRI
NAME: Kachiri
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: South America
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 6‘4‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Kachiri is very tall, with thick black hair. Her features and limbs all appear unnaturally long.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: She is part of a coven with her sisters, Senna and Zafrina.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Kachiri belonged to an ancient native tribe located on the fringe of the Pantanal. After she was changed, she went back for her two closest friends. They‘ve been together ever since, rarely leaving the wetlands, hunting in the habitations along the fringes. Their self-sufficient way of life has kept them a secret from most other vampires. Carlisle and his family discovered them in the 1940s while on a hunting trip; the Cullens‘ interest in large animal game brought them to an area other vampires dismissed for its lack of human prey. The Amazons were quite taken with Carlisle‘s gentle, friendly manner.
Their self-sufficient way of life has kept them a secret from most other vampires.
SENNA
NAME: Senna
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Kachiri
PLACE OF ORIGIN: South America
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5‘11‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Senna is the shortest of the Amazons, but still very tall.
She has the same long limbs and facial features as Kachiri and Zafrina. She wears her black hair in a braid, and her clothing is homemade from animal skins.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: She is part of a coven with her sisters, Kachiri and Zafrina.
ZAFRINA
NAME: Zafrina
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Kachiri
PLACE OF ORIGIN: South America
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 6‘1‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Zafrina shares the same long limbs, fingers, and facial features as Senna and Kachiri. Like Senna, Zafrina wears her long hair in a braid, and her clothing is made out of animal hide.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Zafrina has a strong illusory talent. She can make her target see any illusion she wants, or see nothing at all. Her range includes anyone in her eyesight.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: She is part of a coven with her sisters, Kachiri and Senna.
The Denali Coven
The Denali coven was originally founded by Sasha, who was responsible for transforming Tanya, Kate, and Irina into vampires. They considered Sasha their mother and one another sisters. After Sasha was executed by the Volturi for creating an immortal child, Vasilii, Tanya assumed leadership of the coven. The sisters often amused themselves by romancing local human men. Such trysts usually ended in a meal; their lovers never survived long. After a few centuries, the sisters began to regret their actions. They felt real affection for some of these men, and losing them was depressing. They tried to spare the men they associated with while hunting other humans, but this didn‘t work; the human blood was too hard to resist in such close proximity, and eventually they would slip up. The longer one of them spent with a man, the more devastating it was when the man died. Finally Tanya devised a plan to give up human blood altogether. She had a similar experience in the woods as Carlisle did with his first vampire meaclass="underline" She realized that unappetizing animal blood could quench her thirst. Her sisters decided to follow her example, and after many years of practice, they developed self-control to rival Carlisle‘s.