This was written for the "Volturi fanfic contest" with the prompt word "justice".
Author: Soobin
Title: Punishment
Characters: Heidi
Genre: Maybe it's a little bit dramatic.
Rating: T
Summary: Heidi would never forget the look in her mother's eyes.
Warnings: None, I suppose, at least nothing descriptive. Just vampirism.
Humans were plain and naive. Heidi rarely had to use her power to create illusionary desires anymore. Centuries ago, humans had still been glued to their religious beliefs, making them superstitious and wary of extraordinary beauty, disappearances of people and whispered rumors at the taverns. With their abilities and discoveries in science improving and expanding, they became more and more ignorant to supernatural happenings, including creatures like her. Nowadays, to get her masters the food they wished for she simply had to wear the skimpiest pieces she could find in her wardrobe. There was no need to create artificial desires to make the humans follow her because to them she was a living desire; alive, breathing, offering. She was none of all of this and it suited her well, having them falling for her charade so easily. It was easier with the men, of course, but their women were drawn to her as well, the cause being envy, jealousy or fascination. Once, it had occurred that a woman had been so jealous of the way her husband kept staring at her, that she had felt it obligatory to follow him to ensure that he did not get too close to her. She had let her know what exactly she was before she killed her, just to make her understand the stupidity of her actions. Oh, how stupid these humans were, acting on affects and feelings, so ignorant and oblivious to the world beside their own, besides what they wanted to see.
Most vampires didn't see her true self either. They looked at her and jumped to the conclusion that she had just been changed for her pretty face, not for the abilities Aro had seen the possibility for in her. Furthermore they saw her as just a few decades above the age of a newborn, at a maximum they estimated her to be about a century old. How wrong they were. She had been with the Volturi long before they changed Demetri and Felix and added them to their guard. Even Aro who had seen the possibility for a special talent in her in the first place barely paid it any notice anymore, now that it had become so redundant. How she longed to be more acknowledged like the entire guard seemed to be by her masters. Felix didn't even have any talent! She hated how her desperate wish for more attention made her think hatefully of Renata, this obnoxious, ridiculous slip of a vampire, hiding in Aro's shadow all the time. She had only been with them for a few decades!
Even as a human, Heidi had always drawn a lot of attention to herself. She had been pretty, above standards: luscious mahogany hair, green eyes, curves in the right places. It was what had killed her in the first place.
It had been around 900 B.C. when a young girl traveled to Volterra, a city that used to be a bishop's residence at that time and therefore had secure and stable economy at its disposal. There used to be a weekly market and a special market every few weeks where the travelling folks showed and advertised their goods. Her mother's birthday would be in a few weeks (it was always at the beginning of harvest since they didn't have a certain date for it) and she wanted to get a necklace for her. There was always such beautiful jewelry at the market! She had saved a lot of money for this gift and combined with her pretty face, she was sure she could make a good deal with one of the gypsies. She could still hear her mother's warnings ringing in her ears – "a lone woman and all those gypsies around, you'll get spirited away" – "don't tempt men too much with your beauty, Heidi, they could think too much of it" – and she pushed them carelessly aside. She wasn't going to advertise herself at the market place; she just wanted to grab a gift for her mother and then swiftly make the journey back to her home. It wasn't the first time she travelled to Volterra although her uncle had accompanied her all the time, but that didn't change the fact that she knew the city fairly well and that she felt comfortable with the gypsies, their lax behavior and attire.
Of course it had all gone different. Of course she had been wrong. Of course. It had all happened very fast that day. She didn't remember much of it, only that she had been careless, joy at having found a pretty necklace for her mother earlier flowing through her.
A man had approached her, started a conversation. How pretty he had been, so pretty that she had thought she would surely seem plain and ugly beside him. He had been so friendly. So nice. She had trusted him. How could he deceive her like that, how could he?
The last thing she remembered of her human life was pain; pure, excruciating. The first thing she remembered of her other life was the feeling of wind pulling at her hair as she ran as fast as she could. She didn't notice the speed at which she ran, how the landscape flew by around her, how her feet didn't seem to touch the ground at all. She only felt relief at how – somehow – she had managed to escape those vile creatures that resided in Volterra and had brought her so much pain. She didn't notice that there was no pain anymore and that there was no blood on her neck although she was convinced that something had bitten her there.
Of course she didn't think of them letting her escape on purpose. Of course.
When she arrived at her home, she was not sweating at all and she did not have to struggle to breathe properly. She was not breathing at all, but of course she did not notice that. Of course. Her mother was boiling down some raspberries, she could tell by the scent that wafted towards her, but she felt no appetite for that at all. It felt like she had no stomach anymore, neither too full nor too hungry. It was the first time she noticed the scorching thirst in her throat, like a blade twisting. She needed something to cool it down and she needed it now.
She would never forget the look in her mother's eyes upon seeing her. She blamed it immediately on the blood that was all over her clothing and the wound on her neck that had to be a bit more horrible than she felt it to be. Her mother held a pot in her hands, full of raspberry mash, and it fell to the floor with a loud clatter, the half-liquid, half-solid fruits spilling over the floor. Her eyes widened, a hand coming up to cover her mouth but not succeeding at covering the scream that wedged its way out, high and shrieking. Oh God, your eyes, your eyes, your eyes! Oh good God, no! She did not really listen to her mother's words. First she felt shocked, horrified at her mother's reactions and then, upon seeing the red fruits spilling all over the floor, the thirst came back more strongly than before, nearly taking over her body in its desperate attempts to move her towards her mother and silence her for what would be forever.
She turned and ran then, directly in the opposite direction. It took all her control to not turn back and hurt her mother in probably the same way these creatures had hurt her. She met the man from before on the way, like he had been waiting for her all the time. He surely had.
Good thing, you did not kill that woman right there and then. It would be a pity to have you disposed of so quickly after your change. Master Aro wants to see you. He would surely send someone to fetch the woman if you desire her. We knew you would come back.
An hour later, she was fully aware of three facts.
First, she was one of them.
Second, there was no escaping them now anymore.
Third, she deserved this. She deserved to suffer. She had been as ignorant as the humans nowadays. They had so easily caught her under false pretenses. They had only delivered the right punishment for own naivety and stupidity.
It had only been justice.