Lysander's Penance
Summary:
Lysander died but reawakens in the city of Volterra as a vampire. He has no memories of his past and is horrified at the monster he has become. Will he survive living with the Volturi?
Author's note: This will most likely be a short story with three chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the characters; Stephanie Meyers is gracious enough to let me and other's play with them.
"Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to"
- Sophocles
Painful Awakening
He remembered falling from a great height then hitting the ground, his body felt twisted and broken. He waited for darkness to take him but that is when the pain started.
The pain was intense, a constant burning feeling with no end. If he could speak at this point he would be screaming for death. He was bewildered how could he be in this much pain and still live.
He had a vague awareness of voices around him but he couldn't find the desire to know to whom the voices belonged. Since there was no end to the pain and death wouldn't take him he mentally withdrew into himself to seek oblivion.
He no longer had a sense of self or time.
If time had passed he was ignorant of it. The voices still faded in and out but he still couldn't concentrate on what they were saying. He still couldn't speak. He felt his body being carried but still could not focus his thoughts. Then suddenly the pain slowly receded. He felt an awareness of his surroundings and the overwhelming sound of voices, they sounded strange all speaking at once. He looked around the large chamber he found himself but instead of a crowd of people he saw only seven people in what looked to be a thrown room.
There stood thee thrones on a dais five steps above him, everything in the throne room was decorated with marble stone and mahogany with inlaid gold. Three figures were seated on the thrones. The man on the left throne had long brown hair and a look of indifference. The man seated on the right had long white blonde hair and his face was cruel and angry. The man seated in the middle had black shoulder length hair his expression was triumphant as he smirked looking down the steps at the young man the guards brought.
The young man noticed a boy and girl perhaps two years younger in age than himself standing off to the side behind the thrones. The two guards escorted the young man to the steps of the throne room. The larger guard forced the young man to kneel on the bottom step. "You will show respect." Growled the guard.
The young man noticed they were all dressed in dark gray elegant suits. They all had pale skin and their eye color was a burgundy red. He had a surreal feeling, as if he could hear their voices though they did not speak. And he had an out of body experience were he could see the room from other perspectives. He saw a young man in a blue t-shirt and jeans, kneeling on the steps. He could not help but wonder when he fell off that building if he fell through a rabbit hole and landed in some freaky gothic fairy tale.
The other guard spoke to the black haired king. "Master Aro, the others were no where to be found." The guard bowed his head as he finished his report.
Aro stood and glided gracefully down the steps. "Where are they?" asked Aro addressing the young man sternly.
"I…don't know?" the young man responded, confusion written on his face. His voice was hoarse but spoke to Aro again. "W-What are you?"
Aro arched his eyebrows in disbelief and cocked his head to the side, looking down he addressed the Youngman. "Give me your hand."
The Young man did as he was told and Aro grasped the offered hand with his own. Aro could read every thought that crossed a person's mind by touching them. The Youngman realized he was seeing his own memories played back to him from Aro's thoughts. He could see the building, the fall and the relentless burning pain. The Youngman concentrated to remember more but there was nothing. He couldn't even remember his own name. His mind was spiraling as the memories of the pain were repeated in Aro's mind. Aro pulled back as the pain became too much to tolerate. "Enough." Aro gasped, "And the answer to your question is we are all vampires."As the young man's eyes widened in surprise, Aro spoke to someone behind the throne. "Alec, take care of this please." The young man's vision and other senses suddenly went dark.
His eyes fluttered open and he noticed he was lying on his back in a bed. The room was sumptuously decorated in Italian baroque the color scheme of burgundy and gold were throughout the room. He sat up in bed noticing his clothes were changed from the t-shirt and jeans to the same type of suit the guards were wearing. Aro sat at a desk, staring at him across the room.
"You have returned my son." Aro spoke. And he chuckled softly at the young man's bewildered expression. "You don't remember but your name is Lysander, you were on a mission for the Volturi when your team was attacked, the others, your comrades have not been found." He continued gravely with the rest of the account. "We found out too late that you were sent into a trap set by our enemies."
Aro frowned as he continued, "You somehow must have escaped but you suffered mortal injuries when you fell from that building." He sighed, "My Guard arrived in time to change you to keep you from death, but the pain you suffered from changing into a vampire seems to have erased your memories." Lysander sat on the edge of the bed in stunned silence. After a few minutes he finally spoke, "It's true," he replied softly, "I can not remember anything before the fall." He sadly drew in a slow breath trying to calm his anxiety. "And now I am a monstrous vampire, I have to wonder if it were better that I died."
"Lysander, look at me," began Aro fervently, "YOU are an Immortal Prince of the Volturi!" He stood up and glared down at Lysander. "We are the rulers of the vampire world." "You are my son and inherited my telepathic gifts and you will relearn your responsibilities and retrain until I am satisfied that you have regained your faculties, is that clear Son?"
Lysander looked at Aro warily, realizing he had little choice in the matter since he had no memories to compare this situation. "Yes sir, your words are clear." He lowered his head looking at his feet. He wished he knew what else to say, or how to act. Lysander felt lost in his overwhelming emotions, of confusion, sadness and grief? He couldn't fully grasp what was happening to him. He finally looked up at Aro and tried to form the words that would explain his feelings. "I feel a great loss like a piece of my chest is missing, then my emotions are all over…"
"Yes," Aro replied, "Newborn vampires have difficulty with controlling their emotions at first."
Aro continued to explain to Lysander what was expected of him. That vampire law was to above all else keep the existence of vampires a secret from humans. And that becoming a Volturi guard meant enforcing that rule. He also informed Lysander of the other rules and consequences of breaking them.
Aro took him to connecting rooms, one was a gymnasium with various weapons hung on the walls, another room was a library with a few tables surrounded with book shelves another small room was an empty cell with bars on the door. There were no windows in any of these rooms and at the end of the hall stood a very large menacing vampire guard at a wooden door.
"You will stay in these rooms until your training is complete." Aro informed him.
"We are in the catacombs far below the castle, there will be no distractions to your education."
Lysander couldn't help but feel oppressed by his surroundings; his emotions were easy to read on his face. "My son, you will do better here where you can be kept safe. And when you become more adept with your training, you will be given more freedoms. Do you understand?" Aro finished sternly.
"Yes sir." Lysander replied obediently because he could read in Aro's thoughts that the older vampire would not tolerate defiance.
He could hear voices making their way loudly through the catacombs, two belonged to vampires but the other voices were different and terrified. "Santiago," Aro called to the vampire guard at the door. "Go assist Demetri and Felix with their errand."
"Yes Master." Santiago replied as he went through the door. After a few minutes Santiago returned with two other vampires that had five frightened men in tow. They looked like Japanese tourists with all of the camera equipment included. It was almost a humorous cliché except for horrified expressions and screams as they were thrown into the empty cell. Lysander's throat was burning and his month filled with venom. He felt an urge to lunge at the men. The scent of their blood overwhelmed him, not knowing what else to do he stopped breathing. "Lysander, their blood calls to you." Aro walked up to the young vampire and spoke softly. "Come you need to feed." Aro led Lysander towards the cell. "No." Lysander moaned, "Please, I don't want …"
"Nonsense!" Aro replied impatiently. "You will do as I say!"
"Felix demonstrate for Lysander the proper techniques for feeding." Aro commanded the hulking vampire. Felix proceeded to rip open the throats of two of the humans; blood spurted all over the cell. The other humans were cowering in a corner screaming in horror. Santiago's eyes suddenly turned black and he had to be restrained by Demetri. "I can't please don't make me do this!" begged Lysander, he could no longer think straight he panicked. He threw off Aro's arm and raced down the hall through the door. Lysander ran as fast as he could to get away from the carnage. He didn't know where to go but he had to get away from the screams and mental voices. The catacombs and tunnels he raced through were ancient. Since he could hear the thoughts of others he knew which tunnels to avoid. He could hear Demetri, Santiago and Felix hunting for him. He knew Aro would not kill him, but worse, put him back in that cell instead.
Lysander kept well ahead of his pursuers; he could no longer hear any other voices.
He finally came to immense under ground chamber of some sort with an ancient aqueduct and towering via duct bridging over a canal that had fast running water.
There seemed to be nowhere else to go but climb up the antiquated structure. He could hear the other vampires closing in on him.
"Lysander," Demetri called to him in an almost soothing tone. "Why are you running?"
"Demetri, please I can't go back there." He replied desperately.
"But your Father wants you to return." Demetri replied trying to calm the younger vampire as Lysander kept climbing the distressed structure.
"Come along it's not so bad, Aro will forgive you." Demetri continued, "You don't even know where you are going, calm down and talk to us."
"You have to feed and keep your strength up," Felix added. "Blood is not so bad, you won't know for sure until you try it." Felix winked at him.
Lysander stopped climbing for a moment and considered the two vampires in front of him; but was distracted by a sudden movement to his right. He saw Santiago lunging for him. Demetri screamed at the other vampire, "Santiago stop!" It was too late Santiago grabbed for Lysander but the young vampire could anticipate his intentions by reading his mind. Lysander jumped upwards while doing a back flip landing high and further away from the other vampires. Lysander would have been able to make a quick escape except for the condition of the ancient bridge. It would no longer hold him and collapsed.
Lysander was hurled into the raging water of the canal and was swept away.
His body was pulled under the water and knocked against walls and rocks. He didn't fight it and breathed in as much water as he could; letting the water's current take him wherever. He started to move again when it became obvious that he would not drown.
He swam upwards and somehow found a sewer grate above him. He ripped the grate open and climbed up through the sewers finally coming to door. He couldn't hear anyone on the other side of the door so he opened it cautiously. He walked quietly into a dark basement. He could hear two human voices arguing as he walked up the basement steps.
He realized he was in an old church and it was midday the sun was shining through stained glassed windows. Lysander kept to the shadows away from the direct sunlight but he walked towards the arguing voices.
Lysander saw a priest and a red-faced deliveryman. Both of them were flailing their arms about angrily. The priest was pointing outside to a yellow Porsche which was parked in the carport right outside with the motor running. Lysander couldn't believe his luck; he decided to help the priest and deliveryman with their disagreement but removing the offending piece of contention. He blurred past both men at vampire speed and sped off in the car in a blink, after rolling up the tinted windows of course. He was out of the city walls in five minutes and he pushed the car at top speed to get as much distance as he could from Volterra. Demetri's words came back to him, "You don't even know where you are going, calm down and talk to us."
Lysander knew if it wasn't for Santiago he would have talked to Demetri and Felix but he couldn't help wanting to get away from the others. He needed time to think and to have that he needed distance. He knew they where coming after him, he read in their minds Aro's orders were to return him to Volterra unharmed. He was speeding down the highway and pushed the car to go even faster. The feelings of exhilaration and freedom surprised him; until now nothing gave him any joy. He realized how much he enjoyed fast cars. He followed the highway west towards the coast according to the cars GPS. He still had no plans and had no idea where he would go. If he was caught and returned to Volterra would they finally kill him? Would he weaken and die if he didn't drink blood?
Why was his training so important to Aro, he could read some disturbing and possessive intentions to Aro's thoughts. The older vampires made him feel uncomfortable; in fact he wasn't very comfortable with any of the vampires. If he could only remember his life before he changed perhaps he would feel more at ease with them. His thoughts were interrupted by an upcoming traffic stop; he could see it in the minds of the other driver's three miles ahead of him.
There were police checking driver's identifications, he also heard vampires ahead, as he slowed the car he could hear Demitri & Felix gaining on him from behind. They were following him in a black SUV; Lysander started to feel panicked again. He turned off the highway and sped towards a riverbank. They were herding him towards a remote location. He could read determination in Demitri's mind and Felix's amusement with the situation. Another SUV veered towards him from the opposite direction, they were closing in on him. Lysander became desperate he turned towards the river and punched the car's engine, it leaped forward becoming airborne and plunged into the river. He discarded the vehicle and swam down river escaping his pursuers for now.
He swam for hours finally resurfacing when the sun went down. He made it to shore and cautiously left the water jumping onto the pier of an abandoned warehouse. He was soaked but felt neither tired nor cold. The building was empty and judging from the neglect of the structure it had been vacant for sometime. There were no lights in the building but Lysander found he could see easily in the darkness. A cardboard box sitting buy the door caught his attention he opened it to discover new clothes. He was amazed to find that everything was a perfect fit. He wore a button down navy blue shirt with khaki pant and a light blue canvas jacket. Even the Italian leather loafers were a perfect fit. Encouraged by his good fortune he decided to continued North, running all the way. He discovered he loved to run and he was ecstatic at the speed of his pace.
Lysander was elated, running gave him thoughts of calmness and peace that he did not have until he left Volterra. He still did not know where he was going but he was starting to feel a restrictive tightness in his chest when he thought of returning to the catacombs.
He started searching for a hiding place when the sun started to rise. He found an isolated house on the outskirts of some rural town. The windows were boarded up but that did not discourage his determination. He decided it was the perfect sanctuary.
He let himself into the house and concealed himself into the attic.
He pondered his situation and had to admit it was pretty bleak. He did not wish to murder anyone but the burn in his throat was a constant reminder of his need for blood. He also knew Demitri was a supreme tracker and would find him eventually; so far he had been able to keep ahead of his pursuers. Did he want to be an immortal? He was contemplating starving himself or breaking an unpardonable rule to force Aro to execute him.
So far he could see no benefits to an immortal existence in Volterra. His thoughts were interrupted by a scraping noise of the front door opening, and then he heard it suddenly slam shut with a bang. He was perplexed that he heard no thoughts sooner but he was alert to vampire thoughts these belong to a human and a human child.
The child was whimpering with fear, she was a ten-year-old girl who was terrified of her captor. The man had a cruel demeanor and the thoughts of a monster. He had snatched the girl from her home and planned on raping and torturing her before he killed her. Lysander could read in the man's thoughts that she was one of many victims. He was enraged by the man's intentions so he ran down from the attic to suddenly appear in front of the killer. He snatched the younger girl from the murder's arms.
Setting her on her feet he spoke to her as soothingly as he could, "You will be safe now, run home to your family and don't look back." He spoke in Italian so the girl would understand. She was in shock but did not have to be told twice and she made her escape through the door. The man growled obscenities at Lysander as he attacked him with a knife but Lysander's skin was impenetrable and the knife was bent and twisted from the assault. Lysander lost control of his bloodlust and struck at the man's throat with his teeth draining the monster of his life's blood.