Jasper walked lazily down the hall. He was with his love, Alice. She was his world. "I love – " He never got to finish his sentence because suddenly there was a blinding light. Jasper woke with a start, he had that dream again. The same dream he has had since Alice disappeared. She had gone a vacation to Italy. And she never came back. He was devastated. Beyond devastated – there were no words to describe his grief. He was leaving in about a day and a half; the police were of no use to him. They had failed to find her – it was as if she never existed. He was the only contact she had in the world, her parents were dead and she had no siblings. She simply evaporated into thin air.
He was on the plane to Italy. He would get some answers; he had saved the last texts that she had sent to him. The very last text said that she was going to Volterra.
He arrived in Volterra, where would he go from here? He hadn't thought this out completely…He would talk to the police again. They had talked about the case over email for a while but then the emails stopped coming. They had to have new information. He stormed out of the police department – what a waste of his valuable time! They had no new information whatsoever! It was nightfall; he needed to find a hotel or somewhere else to sleep. Luckily, it seemed that there was one nearby. He had passed it on his way to the police station. It had a homemade sign that jutted out from the wall. He entered the establishment, ringing the bell for service. A rather stiff looking man emerged from the back room.
"Can I help you?" the man asked with an extremely thick Italian accent.
"Yes" Jasper replied, "I would like a room please. Are there any vacancies?" The man nodded solemnly.
"We have one room left but it is in the basement. It is still quite nice and properly furnished."
"I will take it!" Jasper said, rather happily. He was grateful that he could find a room so quickly. He made his way to his room; following the directions that innkeeper had given him. The man had offered to escort him to the room but Jasper decided to decline. He approached the room; they had old fashioned skeleton keys here. He turned the lock and then the door handle. Jasper gasped, the room was wonderful! The furniture appeared to be antique. This room was a gem! He began to explore the room a bit, twirling the ring that Alice had given him. His finger underneath it began to itch. He took off his ring to itch it. He went to put it back on but missed his finger. The ring fell and began to roll. It rolled halfway across the room and fell down some steps. Why were these stairs in his room anyway? Suddenly the tiredness that he had wore off. He decided to follow the stairs; they spiraled downwards, deeper into the earth then they suddenly leveled out. There were incredibly bright artificial lights down here! Where did they get the proper wiring to run this deep underground? He then noticed something peculiar – there were sewer pipes leading deeper underground from some houses but there were more stairs leading into other houses. How far did these tunnels run? (Yes, I stole this idea from Daybreakers…) A person was walking his way, he froze. A feeling of dread came over him. He looked both ways, there were a set of stairs to his left; he went up them to avoid said person. As he made his way up the stairs, he heard murmuring and mumbling. He reached the top of the stairs – it was a bar. At least that is what he thought that it was. There was very little light. The person should have passed by now, he began to descend the stairs when he heard a person ask the bartender for a shot of Irish; shot of Irish? Irish what? He had to have misheard them – maybe they said "Irish Cream". He shook his head and returned to descending the stairs. He felt someone staring at his back, he ignored the feeling.
He returned to his room. Luckily he had a good memory and had remembered which stairway was his room. He crawled into the bed and quickly fell asleep.
He woke the next day feeling refreshed. Had the stairway trip been a dream? He couldn't remember; he got out of bed and walked to the back of the room. The stairs DID exist! He decided that he would explore the underground tunnels after breakfast.
After visiting one of the local cafes for breakfast, he returned to his room with a quick hello to the innkeeper. Upon reaching his room, he wondered if he should bring along some supplies – just in case. He decided against it, what is the worst that could happen? Maybe get lost but it wasn't like he carried chalk around up his ass. He descended the stairs again. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked both left and right. He wasn't sure which way to go. He may not carry chalk around with him but he did carry coins around with him. Heads, he would go left – Tails, eh would go right. He flipped the coin; it landed on tails. He turned to the right and started walking. The tunnels seemed almost brand new. Seemed was the keyword, he didn't know for sure. He turned the corner and bumped into someone – or something. It was hard – like marble. He fell backwards. He looked up – it was a person. The person looked down at him. It was a rather tall male with dark hair; very dark hair. Jasper looked to meet his eyes. He gasped – his eyes were red! Red! They had to be contacts. Yes, that was it.
"I apologize. Did I startle you? I hope not." The male said.
"Of course you startled me – I mean I ran into you and it was like running into a fucking brick wall."
The man laughed; it was a hearty laugh.
"I am called Carlos."
"Well, Carlos. It's nice to meet you. My name is Jasper." The sudden need to inquire about Alice came over him.
"Say, have you seen a dark haired girl about four ten?" Jasper asked
"Oh, you must be talking about Alice." Jasper gasped again.
"How do you know Alice? I mean, she's been missing for a month."
"Well, I wouldn't say missing…just reborn."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Jasper yelled at the top of his lungs. Carlos covered up Jaspers' mouth.
"Do not yell Jasper. It will not help you any."
Jasper struggled with Carlos. He could barely move within Carlos arms. He stopped his struggling and Carlos released him.
"Okay, okay. Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"
"Come with me please. It would be easier to show you."
Jasper was hesitant at first but finally agreed. He followed Carlos through a labyrinth of tunnels. Finally they came to a small, plain door. Carlos opened the door and motioned Jasper through. Jasper gulped, why did he suddenly feel like he was signing his death warrant? He stepped through the door. He was instantly hit by the scent of…blood. He turned to Carlos.
"Why does it smell like blood in here?" Carlos didn't answer him; he simply pushed his way past Jasper.
"When do I get to see Alice?" he demanded
"Soon" was Carlos' reply
Jasper sighed, annoyed. He looked around. The room was relatively large; about the size of a small home. Jasper went to enter another room when Carlos suddenly appeared next to him.
"You were on the other side of the room!" Jasper exclaimed
"Yes, I was." Carlos said bluntly
"Wha-How?" Jasper asked, stumbling over his words.
"Easy. I am a vampire." Carlos lazily replied
Jasper looked at him in disbelief.
"What the fuck ever man. Vampires don't exist; not real vampires anyway."
"Remember when I said that Alice had been reborn?"
"Prove it." Jasper challenged
"Okay." Carlos replied simply
Carlos began walking towards another door, motioning for Jasper to follow. Jasper followed Carlos into the other room, this one bigger than the previous. It was a great stone room; with pillars reaching up to the ceiling. There were three chairs in the front of the room. Jasper turned to Carlos,
"Who do those belong to?"
"Marcus, Aro, and Caius." Carlos pointed to each of the chairs from right to left.
"Your 'ringleaders'?" Jasper asked
"Of a sort." A soft voice from the back of the room replied.
"Aro." Carlos said, bowing slightly. The man was of a slight build, about five ten and long, dark, dark hair."
"Who is this?" Aro asked, motioning to Jasper.
"This is Jasper. Last name unknown." Carlos said
"He is human. You know the rules." Aro said condescendingly
"He came looking for Alice…" Carlos began
"Our dear Alice? She belongs here now." Aro stated
"I know but -" Carlos started again
"Maybe our dear Alice can turn him?"
"I don't know what you two are going on about but I am leaving now. You're freaking me out."
"Please don't go Jasper." A new voice said very, very softly. Jasper turned around with a start.
"Alice?" Jasper exclaimed
"Yes it is me. Come here please. I want to see you again. It's been a long while." Alice said. Jasper complied hesitantly.
"Forgive me please." Alice said solemnly and then she attacked him.