Annabelle was sitting on a plane to Italy with Alec. He had told her that she needed to be away from people for a while, so he had his own plane, probably with a vampire as pilot.
Annabelle had not had any time to ask Alec questions about being a vampire, and now on the plane would be perfect. If only she knew how to start without hurting him.
"I guess you have a lot of questions," Alec said right out of the blue. Annabelle stared at him. Can he read my thoughts? "And we're going to be on this plan for some hours, so why not just start now."
"Can you read peoples mind?" Annabelle started. Alec smiled and laughed a short laugh. "No, I can't," he answered. "But there are some of our kinds that can. Most of us have an extra power. Take me for example. I can cut of a person's senses. Like I can make someone suddenly turn blind or deaf. For some reason it doesn't work on you. I don't know why that is. It normally does."
"Do you actually kill people?" Annabelle continued. "That's a question we get from all newborns," Alec started. "Most of us do kill people to be fed. But there are also some of our kind that is fed by blood from bears and such. They call themselves vegetarians, which is really just a bad joke."
Annabelle looked at Alec's face. He looked so young, but she knew she was terrible at guessing age, so she didn't want to guess. "How old are you?" Annabelle asked. "Well, I actually don't remember, but I think I were somewhere around 14 or 15 when I was changed by Aro. But if you count how long I've been a vampire also, I think it's nearly 185 years or so." Annabelle looked confused. How can he be 185 years?
"Is vampires immortal?" "There are ways to kill us, but we never die from ourselves, if that's what you mean. That's why I'm about 185 years, and I'm going to be older, if I never get killed. You can kill a vampire by twisting the head of and burn the body. But we try not to do that so often."
"Tell me about the other members of the Volturi family," Annabelle said hoping that he would, and that she would be prepared to meet them. "There are three leaders. Aro was the one starting up the Volturi family, and he was the one that first took control over the vampire world. He's kind of the head leader. He's gift is that he can see every thought and memory a person have, if he is physically in contact with them. Then there's Marcus, who's one of the leaders. He's gift is that he can see relationships. That means that he can see who's friends, who's family, who's faithful and so on. The third leader is Caius. He actually doesn't have a gift, but that don't keep him from showing his point of view." Alec took a little break from telling. It seemed like he was thinking. "Then there's their wife. Athenodora is the wife of Caius, and doesn't have any gift. Sulpicia is the wife of Aro, and she doesn't have any gift either. Marcus doesn't have a wife at the moment. He once had Didyme, but she died."
Annabelle looked like she was hoping that this was it. "And now, the guards. That's what I am. And my gift you already know. My twin sister is also a guard. Her name is Jane, and her gift is that she can make a person feel an extraordinary pain. Demetri is a tracker. He is the best of his kind, and can track almost everyone, by reading their minds. Then there's Felix, whose gift is his strength and fight. Santiago has no gift. Heidi, Corin and Afton have an unknown gift. And the last one is Chelsea. She's got the gift that she can make relationships stronger or weaker."
Annabelle counted the names, and without Didyme she came to 15 names, including Alec. She wasn't sure how she would keep the names apart, but she knew she should at least remember Aro, Marcus and Caius. And Alec, but that one was easy.
"What happened to Didyme?" Annabelle asked curious. Alec took a moment of thinking. "Well, I don't know. I think Aro is the only one who knows for sure what happened to her," he answered and smiled a friendly smile.
"There's also a thing you might want to know," Alec started. "We don't sleep. Like ever. I guess you have noticed the last week, since you haven't slept."
Annabelle hadn't thought about that, but it was true. She couldn't remember any sleep the last week, despite how tired she had been when she first saw Alec. Then a thought hit her like a lightening. "What about my parents?" she almost screamed it out to Alec. He shushed her. "Be quiet. If you reveal our existence we have to kill you." Annabelle closed her mouth, but had still some panic in her eyes.
"Your parents don't know about you being a vampire. I got the local police to tell them that there had been an accident, and that you had died. You were so messed up in the accident that there was no body to claim." Alec was calm. It calmed Annabelle a bit, but she was still sad about her parents thinking she was dead. It had to be an unbearable pain to them.
"Please fasten your seatbelts as we go in for landing at the airport in Rome," a voice said on the speaker in the flight. Annabelle and Alec fastened their seatbelts and looked straight forward. I'm in Italy, and soon I'll be meeting the Volturis, Annabelle thought as the plain hit the ground.
