Volturi Memories

Prologue - Man Without Pupils

Jane looked up from where she lay on the splintered, graffitied bench to find the barrel of a gun against her delicate, luminous white forehead. For the first millisecond of awareness she was confused, an emotion Jane had not had the misfortune of feeling for twenty years or more. Blinking, her eyes focused on a man standing over her. He was handsome, for a human, with disconcertingly light green eyes and short white hair, a dangerous smile playing on his full lips. The darkness made his hair glow oddly, revealing the lack of blemishes over his skin. This caused Jane some more confusion, usually human skin was covered in minute marks, scars and blemishes, things which only a vampire's vision could pick up. This man look as if he was a new born, as if he had only been alive for a short amount of time, almost like a vampire.

Jane's first reaction to having a gun forced against her head was to narrow her eyes, something that, as a vampire, she had learnt to do to perfection. The man's blood was surprisingly sweet, enticing her, and to make matters worse she had gone for more than a day without feeding; she would hate to waste this perfect opportunity and kill the man, spilling precious blood.

When glaring failed she sighed. "A gun won't kill me," she told the weapon holder assuredly, folding her arms and one leg over the other on the bench as though thoroughly bored. The man chuckled at her as if amused by the show, cocking the gun ostentatiously with his thumb. Jane raised a delicate black eyebrow at this, annoyance momentarily darkening her mood. She controlled the urge to get the exchange over and done with as the man opened his grinning mouth and he spoke quietly. His voice was soft and silky as he answered her unspoken question, causing her muscles to tense for some unknown reason.

"I'm pretty sure that there isn't a blood-sucker in the world who can survive a shot from this gun." He told her in an overconfident tone. Again Jane was taken aback. The fact that this man knew her true nature was concerning, if only slightly. After all, what could a human possibly do to her? Annoy her, she decided, gritting her teeth.

"Was that a threat?" She asked, keeping the curiosity out of her voice. She wanted to know how this man had known how to identify a vampire and why he seemed so confident in his abilities, even whilst knowing how much more powerful she was than him. When he didn't take away the gun she snarled and lost her temper, focusing her mind and waiting for the man to crumple in pain. The man's scream echoed through the deserted park as he fell to the ground, writhing and clutching at his heart. A malignant smile crept over Jane s face as she watched him suffer.

The gunshot echoed louder than the screams, cutting them off as a bullet entered the man's back and exited through his chest, allowing his blood to flow freely into the overgrown grass. Jane licked her lips as the sweet blood pooled out of the bullet wound but her attention was diverted to the man who had cause it. She blinked as she realised that this man was identical to the one he had shot. This man's hair was much longer than the last one's, and tied back with a length of red string. He wore black sunglasses which obscured the top half of his face, with lenses so thick even Jane couldn't see through them to examine his eyes. Lenses thick enough to stop vampire's sight, she wondered, what was going on? "Nice show," he told her, indicating the dead man at her feet. Jane looked into his sunglasses, staring at her own reflection.

"You liked that I killed our brother?" She asked, her voice thick as she concentrated on using her ability on him. The man was unaffected by her attempt, his grin widening as he turned his gaze to the man at her feet.

"He's not my brother," he told her, taking off his sunglasses as he suddenly aimed his own gun at Jane. She had seen the actions coming, but his movements were faster than that of an average human. He turned to her and Jane prepared to try and use her powers again. The man inclined his head. She locked her gaze with his, trying to focus as his grin widened. She stopped bothering to breath as she realised that the man had no pupils. His eyes were as black as the city-polluted sky above her. She stared, wide-eyed into them and licked her lips almost subconsciously.

"What are you?" She whispered, too quietly for a human to hear. The man crouched down and pressed the butt of the gun against her forehead.

"What do you think I am?" He asked, his smile a distant, Jane recognised his face and opened her mouth to answer. The man pushed the butt of the gun against her forehead harder and waited for her to speak but she found herself unable to. "What, run out of things to say, Veira?" Jane frowned.

"Veira-?" she had heard the name before, a long time ago, before she had became a vampire. The man growled impatiently, his mood suddenly changing, pushing down even more with the gun on her forehead.

"Now do you believe I can kill you with this weapon?" Jane believed it, some instinct inside of her was screaming, some human part of her remaining at the back of her mind. She swallowed almost normally and sat up carefully, keeping her eyes on his gun and not on his gaze. She had not felt fear for years, but at that moment the pupil-less eyes which stared down at her made her feel nauseous. A vampire shouldn't be able to feel nauseous. "Why don't you come with me?" he asked, offering her his free hand.

Jane thought for a moment before she touched her skin to his. Hers was just as cold as hers, but she smelt and heard the blood pulsing in the veins beneath his skin. His hands grasped hers with as much strength as she grasped his, but he did not flinch at her strength. Helping her up, he lead her away