I lay in bed looking out into the dark night, wondering why I feel so hollow inside. The stars fill the skies outside my window. I envy them. They are in the place where they belong. Each one of them is different but still accepted and surrounded. Don't misunderstand; working for the Volturi is great. I get to live in a marvelous setting. But, I don't know, lately I've felt like there is something missing in my life. There's nothing of interest. I work for the most powerful group of vampires around and yet there's still a void. In the beginning, I thought 'Hey, what an opportunity to get the adrenaline I crave. There are lots of action and adventure.' But now that I'm here, the enthusiasm I once felt morphed into apathy over time with the same repetitive routine. Get up, get ready, eat something, and watch over the Volturi just sitting at their thrones looking pretty. After an hour or two, they eat their human, which believe it or not gets old real fast. I can see the sun starting to rise over the horizon. Another sleepless night, even though I hardly require it, it's the only time where I can find peace of mind. I hear a wolf howling in the distance. A wolf in Italy? That's odd. I go over to my closet and take my uniform. They're lucky my favorite color is black. I wasn't required to wear the cloaks, which would've been a deal breaker. Once ready, I head to my post. As I turn out of my room, I bump into Aro. He was standing there motionless and beautiful as if a statue in a museum.
"Oh, you have awakened, how lovely." Aro said with a smug smile.
"Never even fell asleep." I reply morose while walking alongside him.
"Sorry to hear that, but I know something that'll cheer you up; an execution!" He said with an almost sinister smile.
"Well, that depends on who we are executing today?" I say obviously faking enthusiasm.
"We have a werewolf in our captivity. He has been quite the nuisance lately." Aro said growing serious.
This intrigues me; a werewolf getting trialed. Wolves are already thought of as naive creatures, but this really exceeds expectations. After such a long period without having anything to really set a fire under Aro's, Caius's, and Marcus's cloaks, this seemed to be ecstatic. I start to smile against my will.
Aro looks at me, stunned. "Does this amuse you?" he says raising his voice.
"Yes it does actually, finally something other than a vampire trying to kill himself." I say cracking my knuckles.
"Remember one thing Ian. Your loyalty is for me. The agreement holds." He says smiling as if he was triumphant.
"Yeah, I know. But, you have to remember, I'm not a vampire, I don't technically have to follow your rules. You only accepted me for my abilities." I reply sharply while opening the door to his throne.
"Yes, you've been the most impressive being to be added to this coven." He says with a pat on my back.
I turn and make my way to my quarters. I turn towards my weaponry. The katana seems a bit old fashion for this assignment. My eyes fall on a musket, seriously? Guess it'll have to be the axe and sword. I take them off the wall and place them on my back. The bells above the mansion start to ring. That usually means to take position. I start to gather my energy. The room begins to shake uncontrollably. I notice my bed beginning to levitate in the air, along with my dresser and desk. I feel my strength and agility increasing significantly. I exhale deeply and everything in the room drops hard. My mirror reflects my eyes. They're glowing blue. 'Let's do this', I say to myself walking towards the railing over the Volturi's thrones. I keep my eyes on them. I've noticed my resentment towards them growing stronger with each passing day. How happy I would be if they met their demise. The thought alone was reason for death.
"Bring the wolf forward." Aro commands while gesturing towards Felix.
Felix retrieves him in chains, dragging him across the floor. He drops him mid-center of the room. The wolf rises to his feet. I'm stunned to see how young and attractive he is. I was expecting a much more frail looking man. But, he isn't. He's tall, extremely well built, with black hair stopping just short of his dark eyes. His skin was glowing lightly a captivating russet color.
"Mr. Jacob Black, the consequences have finally caught up with your actions." Aro said oddly malicious.
Jacob just stood there, motionless. I found this interesting. Usually when Aro speaks to someone, they reply out of respect. I could tell that Aro took this offensively as he looks at his brothers to see their reactions. As always, Marcus and Caius looked utterly uninterested. I have never seen them give any reaction in the all the trials I've seen. Aro has always been the expressive one.
"Not in the mood for talking?" Aro says, his eyes meeting to Jane's.
She's the creepiest little girl I've seen by far; with her child-like features and brown hair she resembled a porcelain doll. But when she spoke with those eerie red tinted eyes, her disguise was faltered. Only by watching her begin to walk towards the wolf, made the room feel ten times as cold as it already was. He looks at her in awe.
"Pain", is all she whispers.
Jacob soon starts to scream in agony. He cocks his head upward and yells out of pain. The pain must be so excruciating, I observed, because his eyes wanted to shut but couldn't. His shaking gaze looked all around the room. That's when he noticed my being there. He looks at me surprised. Then he drops to the floor. As he lies there motionless, I see Aro looking at me from below. He begins to smile. I was expecting the wolf to start to stir but he didn't. He just laid there motionless.
Jane hovers towards him to admire her work like the soulless and sadistic bitch she is. As she bends down to check if he was even alive, he quickly rose up and wrapped his chains around her throat and swung her into the wall, leaving a dent in it. She lies on the ground seemingly unconscious to recover from her injury. The rest of the coven stood their ground and surrounded him. Aro also stood there. One by one they each lunged at him and one by one they fell. I was stunned to see that even Felix, the toughest guard, wasn't able to crush him. I witness this all from my post in amazement.
Alec appeared next to me out of thin air. He stared at the scene in awe with his childlike eyes and then spotted his sister lying on the floor from the attack. I hear him hiss and he begins to move towards the ledge. I place my hand across his chest and stopping him from joining the battle. He looks at me with a betrayed expression. "She's fine, it's best you stay out of harm's way." He hesitantly stays in place and crosses his arms in frustration. I continued to watch the scene take place.
As his next conquer fell, I saw all of his wounds. I notice all of the thin slashes on his muscular arms, to the much more open wounds on his chest and stomach. He was breathing heavily, exhausted from the fight. He still held his stance firmly. I was wondering why he hasn't phased yet. In his wolf form, he would do more damage and increase his chances of survival. My gaze went towards the Volturi leaders. They were still neatly placed in their chairs, unaffected by the events that have occurred. Jacob looked up at me and upon seeing this Aro started laughing.
"Don't bother wolf, he's one of mine." Aro said gesturing me to come down.
I quickly jumped from my post down to the floor of the scene. I land in front of Jacob, looking him dead in the eye. I grasp my weapons from my back and hold them tightly at my side. I then take a few steps back beside Aro and bow my head awaiting orders.
"Oh dismiss the pleasantries for now, young one." He tells me gleeful.
I nod and get into fighting position. Jacob has a disappointed expression on his face, but still gets into his fighting stance also. I pause for a moment. I looked around the room. Everyone was still recovering from their wounds. Jacob takes advantage of my distraction and swings his fist into my face. I let go of my weapons and arch my back backwards dodging his blow. I grab his arm and pull him close to knee him in the stomach. He falls to his knees on the ground from the pain. His breathing turns more intense and rapid. He screams out and his body begins to shift abruptly. In a matter of seconds, he stood high and angry in his wolf form. Aro stepped away from me while never breaking eye contact with Jacob.
Demitri and Felix, both flitter by my side. Jacob charges at the three of us and we all jump out of the way. I twist in the air above his back and grab his tail firmly in my hands. I plant my feet on the ground and stop his stride by tugging on it with great force. I tossed him in the air and I scaled the walls to meet him. I kicked him across the face causing him to plummet back to the ground. When I reached the ground again, he was no longer in his wolf form. He was sprawled out across the ground unconscious.
"Kill him now, he's become more trouble than he's worth" Aro demands me.
Alec goes towards Jane to help her as she finishes healing. She brushes herself off and walks over to Jacob. Her crimson eyes focus on him with deadly intent. "Don't waste your time. He's unconscious; your power has no effect." I say to her. She becomes frustrated and storms out of the chamber. Alec follows in her shadow. He stops to meet my gaze. "Please make sure he suffers. He deserves it for bringing harm to my sister." He tells me cold. I nod in agreement.
"Ian, do I have to repeat myself?" Aro commands me as he grows impatient.
He's harmless unconscious, especially in his human state. He only did some damage to them because they underestimated him. This is understandable seeing as it has been awhile since anyone proved to be challenge. It seems a bit pointless to end his life. "It's a bit merciful to just kill him after what he has done here today isn't it?" I tell Aro.
His milk red eyes widen. "You want his life to be spared?" He asks me darkly.
"Do you want to have a reputation of being…lenient?" I ask playing on his fears.
He stays quiet and looks over to his Caius and Marcus for an answer. They each deliberate silently in their thoughts. I look back to where Jacob laid and was shocked to see him no longer there. I notice him climbing across the wall and onto the balcony. He runs down the hallway trying to search for an exit. Aro yells at me to detain him. I quickly grab my sword from the ground and throw it towards the wall while running at full speed. The sword impales itself into the concrete wall. I jump off of it and onto the balcony. I run after Jacob as quickly as I possibly could, for being injured heavily he sure can create distance between us fast enough. I smash open the gargantuan wooden door that lead to the swirled staircase. I look down it and spot him limping down each step out of breath.
Alec grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him. He places two short daggers in my hands. "You really show up at the best times." I tell him as I jump off the railing and fall straight down with my arms crossed across my chest. I timed it perfectly as I land on top of the wolf and pin his hands to floor. He struggles furiously to get me off but his attempts are a failure because I'm not letting him go this time. I dig a dagger in both palms of his hands. He screams in pain. "Tell Aro I have him." I say lightly, knowing Alec was still watching.
"What are you doing here?" He grunts out at me.
"You're not in liberty to ask questions, shifter." I inform him firmly.
Felix appears above me with his teeth bared at Jacob. He pulls Jacob up from the floor by his throat. The daggers clung tightly to Jacob's skin. Felix propped him up on the wall and forms his hand into a claw. I grasp his arm tightly. "He's not to be killed!" I growl at him. Felix drops him and turns serious as he looks me dead in eye. "Who are you to be giving me orders?" He hisses at me while getting in close to my face.
"Don't test my patience." I say dark.
He disappears right before my eyes. I drag Jacob across the floor by his hair. He removes one of the daggers from his palm and digs it deep into my calf. The pain caught me off guard and I quickly removed it. I flip him over and dig the dagger deep into his kidney. His screams brought me satisfaction. "That should take a while to heal." I snicker as I kick him into his cell. "If you're smart you won't waste your energy on trying to bend these bars. Only a vampire can truly break it. A vampire that is a newborn, their strength is intriguing to witness." I finish walking away.
I make it back to Aro in seconds. He was finishing his dinner when he noticed me. "Oh Ian, its good you're here. Would you mind clearing him off the table? Humans begin to decay so soon after death." He asks me in his usual amused tone.
I extend my arm outward at the body's direction. Fire began slithering out of my hand slowly. It swirled into a thicker form. It curled onto the table not burning it until it reached the body. Upon contact it became more intense and uncontrollable. The body was mere ashes in seconds. Aro was in complete awe. He got up from his seat gracefully. "Did you get the wolf?" He asks me without making eye contact. "Of course, I wouldn't let you down." I reply with an unenthusiastic smirk.
He hovers towards the door and stops. "Did you kill him?" He asks me quietly.
"I locked him up in the bottom chambers." I told him while turning my back towards him.
I couldn't even see his face and yet I still sensed his frown. He didn't enjoy it when I made decisions without consulting him. The feeling of having absolute power is what is most important to him. He leaves the room without saying another word. I take a seat at the table and remove my jacket. This coliseum was eerily silent, which I guess is normal being that its inhabitants are vampires. Alec suddenly appeared in front of me. His eyes were narrowed on me in disbelief.
"What?" I ask growing uncomfortable.
"Is it true? Are you growing…remorseful?" His tone was judgmental and disapproving.
"Of course not! Who told you this?" I ask slamming my fists on the table causing it to bend inward.
"Everyone is discussing it…because of the wolf. How you pleaded for his life…" His eyes move to the ground.
I get up from the table without saying another to Alec. I walk past Felix and Demetri and make my way down to the bottom chambers, where Aro usually stayed off duty. I slam the door behind in his room. He isn't even startled or even turns to meet the fury in my gaze. He continues to look through old scrolls from a century or two ago, I guess from how worn out they looked. I focus my energy on the paper in his hands. I could feel my fury leave my body and find its way onto the frail parchment. It combusted into increasingly wild flames and all that was left was ashes in mere seconds. Aro dusted off his fingertips, let out a big sigh, and turned to face me with a grin, as usual.
"That was a valuable item of mine." He turned serious.
"You're immortal; anything you pick up will eventually become valuable." I tell him.
"Mind telling me what has you in such a dark mood?" He says calmly.
"What the hell are these whispers I've been hearing about me going soft?" I could feel the heat from my anger radiating off my body.
"You never spared anyone before. Some just found it…. curious." He sits in his Victorian styled chair.
I leave the room in a hurry and run down the spiral staircase towards the dungeon where Jacob was. The wolf was becoming more of a pest than I thought he would ever become. If it's one thing I hate to be accused of, it's being weak. Compassion isn't a factor in this job, ruthlessness is the key factor. I bust open the bars keeping him locked in. He was still healing, he still had bruises. I grab him by his hair and toss him effortlessly out of his cell. He slammed against a brick wall, leaving a dent in it. He struggles to get up but falls to the floor completely weak. I see this and realize I was letting my anger get the best of me. I toss him back into his cell and bend the bars back to their original condition.
"I…thought you said…" He tried to catch his breath. "…newborns were the only one to break the bars."
"I didn't break them did I?" I started to walk away from him.
"Why'd you come here?" I heard him whisper.
"To kill you…but you're still weak so it isn't a fair fight." I ask turning around and going towards him.
"Always with the excuses." He chuckles halfheartedly.
My blood began to boil once again. "When the sun sets tomorrow, I'm coming to kill you." I spit out.