Deceive Me
Alec slowly walked down the halls of the Volturi buildings with a stern look on his face, he'd just returned from completing a mission. As the guard dog of the Volutri and one of their most powerful and influential guardians he was constantly in and out on missions, most were simply reconnaissance. But there were the few times where action had to be taken such as today. But even though his mission was over, his work had not yet finished for the day. He had just given his full report on what had transpired to Aro and he was debriefed on the situation only to be called away on this task, most times such things would infuriate him; he was supposed to be allotted rest but this particular task nagged at him.
He paused for a moment before a door of dark wood, the door was thick, sleek and elegant in its simplicity with a crystalline door knob. Alec put his hand on the cool knob and slowly turned it pushing the door in. He stepped into the room closing the door behind him and regarded the sight before him. A small wisp of a girl sat on the couch located across from him. The couch was squared with plush white cushions and the girl sat in the direct center. The girl was the very definition of gentle and fragile, thin and small, her frame bony. Her hair was like spun gold delicately flowing over her shoulders and back. Despite being tall her features were small and delicate, as if an artist had spent days upon days carving them out with the utmost care. Shinning eyes stared up at him full of worry but also full of innocence.
Alec sighed and couldn't contain a "Not again" from passing through his lips, he strode across the room quickly and sat on the far end of the couch from the girl. He sighed frustrated and put his head between his hands unsure of what to do.
"I'm sorry." Came a soft breathy voice beside him, the voice like the finest of fabrics lightly rustling in the wind, "I didn't mean to cause trouble." The voice continued stained in apologetic tones. The girl next to Alec fidgeted uncomfortably, her thumbs twiddling with themselves, "It's just that, I couldn't help it." She finished.
"Arcadia what am I ever going to do with you?" Alec sighed unhappily, he turned his head and regarded her, her lip was trembling and she was bouncing up and down with nerves. Her nose curved the slightest bit upwards, her lips were full and curved just so finely. It was moments when she sat ever so still he could believe the rumours that she was once a powerful princess renowned for her beauty as a human that was almost god-like now as a vampire.
They were silent for a long moment when she suddenly sniffled and began to cry, "I'm sorry Alec! I just couldn't do it, I don't like doing it!" she cried softly, "I didn't mean to make you mad, I didn't mean to cause trouble." She continued on apologetically, she was still so much a child- he sometimes wondered how at risk she was for being considered an immortal child. Despite having lived one more year than Alec and his sister as a human, she was very much childlike and naïve from living a sheltered life- the centuries had not worn that away from her.
"It's not healthy Arcadia what you're doing." Alec began carefully picking out his words and calculating how to handle the situation. He constantly feigned avid interest and concern towards Arcadia in an attempt to earn her trust, she fell for it quite easily believing that he honestly care for her. It was one of his tasks to look after her she was an extremely valuable asset to the Volturi but almost completely incapable of defending herself or partaking in combat-the vampire was simply too delicate and fragile.
Arcadia shook her head, "I'm just not hungry." She insisted to him, it sounded honest enough. But Alec unlike most of the other Volturi could hear the slightest hitch in her breathing and how her voice climbed nearly imperceptibly higher when she lied to him. He knew she was lying, she always lied to him about this.
"I can see it in your eyes Arcadia, you're also sharply inhaling to distract yourself from the pain, when was the last time you fed?" He asked her determining the direct path to be the best course of action, when he was direct she responded to him like he was an older brother and did what he said the majority of the time. He avoided this tactic afraid to get too rough and commanding which could possibly ruin what he had to spend a couple of centuries creating. Trust was a difficult thing to establish, especially in someone like Arcadia who was distrustful of strangers, his job was to establish trust and he wasn't going to let it slip by him.
She shook her head stubbornly, "But I'm not hungry, not in the least. My eyes are always this shade." She insisted, "I'm not hungry, and it wasn't that long ago I last ate." She continued on, this time even Alec couldn't tell if she were lying or not there were none of her usual clues. The smallest fraction of worry sifted around in the pit of his stomach-had she found out that he knew when she was lying and used her powers on him? He wanted to rack his brain to see if it had been tampered with-but he knew that with Arcadia's power you wouldn't know when your brain had been played with.
Alec grunted, "Just eat Arcadia, the others don't like it when you refuse to eat. You have to eat it's a normal process of life, you need it to stay strong." Alec continued on his tone harsher with her covering his fear with anger but trying to reign it in, "If you are not strong then you have no reason to be here." He added on, but the line was more of a line he repeated to himself and didn't mean to utter out loud.
Arcadia swept at the tears on her cheeks, "But I'm not very strong Alec, I've never been strong. My brother was the strong one, I've always been the weak one. Can I just be left alone, I want to be alone right now." She rambled on clearly upset at this point, she sniffled and more tears streaked down her cheeks and she hurriedly swiped at them as if trying to hide them from Alec's sight.
He sighed again and collected himself before he opened his mouth he had to tread carefully now that Arcadia was upset, it must have been a long period of time that she abstained from blood if she was getting this upset, "Arcadia if you were not very strong you would not have made it this far. You would not have survived to become one of our kind, you would not have survived that fight or joined the Volturi. You are very strong if you have done this." He tried to explain using his soft brotherly tone that he had when he was human.
Arcadia's head whipped over to look at him, she slapped him quickly shot up and left the room in a dizzying blur, "It's not like I asked to be here." She whimpered at the door before quickly disappearing down the labyrinth tunnels no doubt in the direction of her room.
Alec sat on the couch somewhat stunned he'd been slapped, it wasn't a particularly strong slap. In fact Arcadia put about as much strength as a human would have when she slapped him. He was just stunned that she slapped him, she must be desperately thirsty if she were even showing the slightest hints of irritation and violence. He got up still somewhat dazed, "I can hurt her if you want, I'm certain if I make her squirm that she'll listen." Jane said suddenly appearing in the doorway leaning on the doorframe, she was dressed to leave. Lately since the Cullen stand off the number of rebellious vampires had increased, the twins were being called out more often and lately because they were needed so often they were going out individually.
"You can't hurt her." Alec stated and gave his sister a cautionary glance knowing Jane wasn't fond of Arcadia, "Orders are orders." He reminded her, he wasn't sure what exactly was it about Arcadia that annoyed Jane; but Jane despised the other vampire the moment her eyes laid on Arcadia.
Jane huffed annoyed, "I know brother." Her eyes flashed though, "I just think her behaviour isn't safe and it's unsightly. I hate her." She spat, she was always open with her disdain for the fragile vampire girl. It was Jane's firm belief that Arcadia's power was absolutely worthless since she was so weak.
"That's why you have nothing to do with her." Alec reminded her carefully because if Jane hurt Arcadia there would be consequences. Arcadia was weak physically, but her gifts were unparalleled and extremely coveted by Aro, she could not be replaced. Losing her or damaging her was unforgivable.
Jane tossed her head up and rolled her eyes, "I know." She stated bluntly, "I have to go now, I've been called upon." She stated with the slightest bit of pride in her tone-despite having long been recognized as powerful assets to the Volturi and nearly indispensable, they still got rushes of excitement and pride when they were called upon for important missions and were recognized for their actions.
"May your mission succeed." Alec stated, the twins weren't ones to state careless 'I love you' or get blubbery at their farewells, they didn't tell one another to be safe or to return home. It wasn't their way, those actions made them feel weak and they didn't want to appear weak. Anyways they didn't need someone to wish them to be safe or tell them to return home-they simply would because they were strong. Jane turned on her heel and sped down the hall, she must have waited for the very last second before she had to leave to be with her twin. They had been separated for some time now and it was starting to wear on them, it was unusual for them to spend long amounts of time apart.
Alec sighed and stood up from his spot knowing he had to chase after Arcadia, in a quick second he found himself in front of her pink bedroom door that she had painted herself, delicate butterflies and flowers decorating the wood surface. It too had a delicate crystalline handle, Alec reached out and gently turned the handle, he was always hesitant with her door handles the last few were made of glass and he had shattered them by accident. He slowly cracked open her door and peered in.
Her bedroom was all soft pastel pink and white, with very few splashes of any other colour. A white four poster bed with pink and white curtains, a delicate handmade doll house preserved from the Victorian era in the corner of her room, an old vanity with makeup carefully arranged on the white wooden surface with an extremely old mirror. Collections of paintings from throughout history hung on her walls the only real colour in the dark room. A chandelier with candles hanging over head was the main source of light though candles were organised through the room with weak flickering lights. A spinning wheel sat in the other corner of her room, with a mannequin and sewing machine next to it for when she made her own dresses, the final corner of her room contained her miniature garden-though because of the lack of light the flowers were either wilted or fakes.
Alec's eyes quickly scanned over to her bed where she was curled up and sulking, her sheets were pink and white and she was engulfed in countless pillows. Her bed looked like it swallowed her up, Alec never understood why Arcadia was so insistent on having a bed but she was. For her it was a means of escape and a source of comfort to curl up in the sheets. Carefully arranged among the pillows were numerous stuffed animals, she was currently clutching onto a large stuffed bear and cheek pressed into it as she stared up at him warily, "Leave me alone or I'll make you." She threatened him and he grew afraid because she had never in all their time together threatened him, it would be all too easy for her to overpower him.