The world was nothing to me.

It was as if I was floating a world of black, the open empty space suspending me in the air as if I had ceased to exist.

I must have been screaming. I must have gone crazy, but as my sensations were numb to the world around me, I couldn't help but wonder if this is what it felt to die.

All at once, I could see again. I could smell. I could taste the dryness of my tongue in my mouth. I could hear my own screams as I looked around at my new surroundings: a dingy cell. Above me, much taller up than I could reach, was a small window about the size of a sack of flour.

The ceilings were high, everything around me made of a sort of stone I hadn't felt or seen before. Ahead of me, the rusted black bars kept me from the two figures I had just seen what felt like only moments ago.

But this time, their hoods were down revealing the rest of their facial features. It was at these new details of the mysterious figures from the field that I realized they weren't so mysterious after all- I had been kidnapped by the Volturi.

"Wh-what am I doing here? Am... Am I in Italy?"

The boy, who I now recognized as that twin from the guard had a thin smile painted on his face as he made a clicking sound with his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks as though we have a clever wolf on our hands, doesn't it sister?"

The small girl to his left remained alarmingly still, her face a stone-like blank stare in my general direction; her red eyes meeting mine for a split second before averting away.

"Indeed, brother. Master Aro will be pleased to see he is smarter than we had previously anticipated."

"Your fancy words don't intimidate me!" I yelled at them, my blood boiling in rage.

"No need to fret, wolf." the boy addressed me now as if I had said nothing at all; his words frighteningly cool and collected making all of the hairs on my body stand on end. "You will be under the care of my dear sister, Jane." he slowly gestured his hand to the girl who nodded once very slightly at the mention of her name.

I approached the bars, pressing my face against the cold iron, and glared at the two seemingly young children before me.

"Just you wait..." a sly smile now growing on my face, "I'll phase and be out of here in no time." I started to huff, pumping the adrenaline in my body. Jane and her brother slowly turned to exchange a look before Jane quickly appeared crouched in front of me, her face dangerously close to mine. Her eyes searched mine before locking on them completely and smiled devilishly.

A shot of pain like none I had ever felt shot through my body. Every bone ached as if they were all being crushed at once. My blood felt so hot that it could burn through my skin. My heart pounded as if were trying to escape it's own cell inside my body. Just as my eyes began to roll into the back of my head and I writhed in pain on the floor, the pain ceased.

"Get up." her voice was firm, but still soft and controlled. I opened my eyes to see that she was still poised in a crouched position in front of the bars. I grunted and pushed myself up to kneel, now feeling dizzy from the head rush, and pressed my face against the now soothing cold iron bars.

Gracefully, Jane reached out and brushed her smooth, ice-cold fingers along my jawbone and tilted her head somewhat to the side with her eyes still locked on mine. "Mustn't phase now, my pet..." her voice was gentle- almost angelic and it felt as though I was being cradled by her words. Then in one swift movement, her fingers were squeezing my face in her hand, now holding my head firmly in place to look directly in her eyes. Her voice came out louder and stronger than before; every part of my body growing rigid in intimidation like I had never experienced before. "Wouldn't want to hurt your mother's only son, now would we?"

I wanted to scream out at her. I wanted to kill her right then and there for bringing my Ma into this. I wanted to show her I wasn't some pawn she can control.

But I felt under a spell of sorts and remained still in her grip while I nodded.

"Good dog." She grinned and patted my cheek lightly with her hand once more, then standing up to turn to her brother. "Come Alec, the masters are awaiting us." Once more, she turned around to just briefly meet my gaze and then pivoted to turn and easily catch up with her brother's quick pace.


So I get the whole "vampires don't eat real people food" but you would think it would kill them to get me some grub.

It had been two days- two days of watching nothing but the sun's rays and shadows painting various shades of grays and blacks on the cell walls. But more importantly- two days of NO FOOD.

I was losing my mind.

"Helloooooooo?" I called out from behind the bars that held me from food somewhere that I could be eating. "I know SOMEBODY can hear me!"

I kicked the stone bed/bench with my right foot, and dropped to sitting on my feet on the floor.

"This is bullshit." I muttered.

"What was that?" a familiar calm voice came from the end of the hallway, her feet clicking against the ground with each step.

"Please PLEASE tell me you have food?" I yelled back.

"Unfortunately, no, not exactly."

I groaned and moved to lay on my back with my arms covering my face.

"You have GOT to be kidding me." I said into my warm flesh as Jane's footsteps stopped. Peeking through the crack between my elbows, I could see that Jane was standing in front of the bars, her hands clasped in front of her. She wasn't wearing her cloak, and I could see just how thin and small she really was. Funny how something so small and youthful looking could be so lethal.

"There are tests to be done before you can eat. Masters orders."

"What's with the master thing? You know it makes you sound like you're slaves, right?"

Jane wrinkled her nose and shrugged her shoulders.

"It is a sign of respect towards those who are of higher importance than me."

"Do you realize how dumb that sounds?" I asked, now sitting up and holding myself up with my hands behind me.

"Enough." Her hand was out now in a stop sign of sorts and her eyes were shut. "We simply do NOT have time to doddle." She opened her hand to reveal a lone skeleton key and unlock the door to let me out. I looked at her with a raised brow.

"Really? Just like that you're going to let me out with no restraints?"

A flicker of amusement danced over her face and we began to walk down the hallway; me following her at a couple of feet distance.

"Why would I restrain you?" She answered calmly. "Do you feel that you need to be restrained?"

I shrugged even though she couldn't see me and put my hands in my pockets as we walked.

"Well, I guess not but what if I tried to like, run off or something? Then what?"

Jane stopped in her tracks spinning around to cut me off from taking any more steps and I stumbled slightly at her sudden halt.

"Then what?" She repeated, "Then I would turn around like this and grab your neck like this," her hand reached up to hold my throat in her tight grip "and push you down like this." in one movement she threw me to the ground, my back sliding across the stone ground and ripping up the skin like a rug burn. Jane took steps towards me as I lay on the ground in pain and looking up at her; now regretting the question I posed. Jane watched me intently as she took steps towards me until she was standing just ahead of my feet. "Then with one look I would make you feel such an intense pain that you have never experienced before until you pass out. I would then drag you down and back into your cell and throw you in, only to lock you up once more."

I stayed silent on the floor looking up at her, our eyes glued to the others. It was Jane who broke the look to turn around and continue walking. "And you would most certainly lose food privileges. But this is all hypothetical, is it not?"

I stumbled to my feet and took a few large strides to catch up to her. "Y-yeah. Hypothetical."

"Now, we will be meeting up with my brother momentarily to begin some physical testing. It is important that you do everything to the absolute best of your ability. I don't have to explain what will happen if you don't, do I?"

I rubbed my neck lightly and cleared my throat. "N-no. I think I got it."

"Excellent." She replied as we entered a small room with a thick wooden door wide open. The room had a lot of workout gym equipment and beeps filled the small space around them. There were machines with computer screens with wires sticking out from them that lay ready with sticky tape to them. I looked at Jane and then back at the equipment around us.
"What exactly are these tests?"

"That is classified information."

"Seriously. You really can't tell me?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"So I'm just supposed to do all this shit for you guys and not even know what it is I am doing it for?"

Jane stopped to think about this for a moment while walking over to the wires, picking each one up thoughtfully.

"My Masters have become... interested in your kind. Since you are not of the werewolf race, your abilities are virtually unknown. Master Aro has put me in charge of conducting tests on one of you so rest assured you will be going home in due time once the tests are completed."

"You don't seem to want to do it." Her shoulders rose in a prolonged shrug.

"It was decided that Caius, though he expressed sincere interest, would not be best suited for the job due to his bias. I was the next one to volunteer."

"Well what's Caius' deal?" I asked, watching as Jane peeled paper off of the suction cup things attached to the wires and she gestured for me to step closer.

"Thousands of years ago Caius was involved in a fight with a werewolf that almost cost him his life. We didn't feel that Caius would be able to control his hate for werewolves enough to properly take care of you while you were here-"

"Properly take care of me? I haven't even been fed yet. I think I would rather take my chances." I groaned and crossed my arms.

"You are quite lucky to be with me over him I can assure you. By now I doubt very much that you would even be walking from the other torturous tasks I'm sure he would have put you through by now. My mother used to tell me to 'count your blessings when you wish to complain about your good fortune' and I advise you might do the same." After a moment she sighed. "Caius is very ruthless. He does not pity. He only does as he wishes."

I took a step closer to her now, and she reached up to press the wire's suction cup to my chest; her eyes boring into mine. "As long as you follow the rules, I promise you are safe with me."

I narrowed my eyes, not daring to break the gaze.

"What's with the sudden mood change?"

She pressed another suction cup to a spot on my ribs.

"I suppose I am simply in a good mood today."

"You get those?" I asked with a slight smirk. She watched me for a moment as if to decide if my joke was funny or not. With a smile, she took my hand and attached a band around my wrist.

"All beings, soulless or not, are entitled to their own happiness."

"Its just kinda weird considering the other day you used that weird eye ninja shit on me and seemed to enjoy it pretty greatly."

She raised a brow and continued with the final wire, sticking the suction cup on my neck.

"Please step up onto the treadmill."

"I asked a question..." I grumbled

"You were being difficult. Sometimes when guests are difficult, I need to...redirect them."

"Guests." I scoffed and took a step onto the treadmill, looking at all the buttons and blinking lights. "Sounds a lot better than kidnapees I guess."

"I will need you to run as fast as you can. The machines will monitor your breathing, your heart rate and other vitals. Then tomorrow, we will do this in your wolf form."

"You really think you will fit all of me in my wolfy goodness in here?" I chuckled at the idea; Jane's eyes watching my reaction to such a thing.

"Well, if you're good perhaps we can do the monitoring from outside..." Her voice was hinting at something, but I wasn't sure what.

"That... that would be awesome actually." I smiled but was quickly cut off.

"Providing you remember our previous conversation from this morning."

I thought back to the sheer terror she brought by simply throwing me to the floor and I nodded my head.

"I remember."

"Good. Now, I will start the treadmill at a decent jogging pace and from there we will keep pushing the speed. Understood?"

My hands brushed on the handles of the treadmill and I nodded again.

"Here we go..."

The belt began to move under me and I appropriately shuffled my feet with it as I began to jog.

"This is nothing, blondie." I teased, and Jane hit a button a few times to make the treadmill go faster until I was full on sprinting.

"I-I take it back..." I managed out and Jane reached for a clipboard to begin scribbling things down.

"Please focus on the running." She calmly said, her eyes not moving from the papers on her clipboard.

I must have ran for a solid hour.

The whole time, I found my mind wandering as I focused on moving one foot in front of the other in time with the treadmill.

If this had happened to either Quil or Jake, they would be going about this all differently. Jake would fight, become angry and try to escape every chance he got. Quil would get that weird sassy angry he gets and use his wit to get some kind of message back to the rest of the pack.

But here I was, doing almost nothing. I hadn't even TRIED to escape yet... I just mentioned it.

But Jane's power was good motivation to cooperate. None of the other wolves had yet to encounter her 'gift' so they didn't realize the kind of pain I was looking at for an escape attempt.

On the other hand, maybe I am trying to make some kind of excuse for myself. Life in the pack wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Maybe being here was a better alternative, a vacation if you will, from the monotony of the life I had at home. What left was there for me anyway?

The belt on the treadmill slowed to a stop, and I shut my eyes, breathing heavily to try and relax from the nonstop running.

"I must say, you are quite impressive. Your capabilities have exceeded my expectations."

"Th-thanks?"

Jane began pulling off the wires one by one that were attached to me and nodded her head towards the door. "I think you have earned some food."

A smile lit up my face and I followed her back to my cell. Once she closed the door and left to get me my food, I collapsed to the floor; exhausted.

My mind began to wander again.

If she let me phase tomorrow, maybe JUST MAYBE I could get a message back to the pack. It wasn't completely unheard of for us to communicate back and forth via thoughts from extreme distances, although, Italy was a pretty extreme distance and highly unlikely to work.

I couldn't use the opportunity to run. That was exactly what she probably wanted. Another excuse to look at me and hurt me all over again. But if I could gain her trust...

No, I thought, that's silly. Next to her 'masters' Jane was the one the Cullens had warned us about when we were practicing fighting before their visit those few years ago in the field.

"That's right!" I exclaimed a loud, not realizing Jane was in earshot of me carrying a large plate of food.

"What's right, may I ask?" Her footsteps were getting closer and I could smell the food she was carrying.

"Steak? Really? And... and eggs?" My mouth began to water.

"Fascinating. Your smell works almost as well as mine even in your human form."

I shrugged, inching closer to the bars at the promise of food.

"You have food. Good food."

She passed the plate under the bars and sat nearby on a bench.

"You performed well today. And your kind consumes more than an average human, yes?"

Already devouring the food, I nodded my head and replied through a full mouth, "Yeah, a lot more actually."

We sat quietly for a moment; the only sound being my mouth scarfing down the food she had brought to me. It was Jane who broke the silence.

"Is it difficult to be away from the pack?" She asked, curious.

I licked my fingers for a moment.

"Not exactly." Maybe this was my moment to gain her trust. I elaborated. "They're all pretty occupied with their own lives. I only really seem them these days when we have patrols or something."

"You were alone when we found you." She stated, and I shook my head.

"Nah. Jake was inside my head."

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "Excuse me?" Her words weren't mean, only confused by what I had just said. I elaborated.

"We have this thing where we can hear each other's thoughts when we are in wolf-"

"Yes, yes I understood that part." Her words had a hint of fear in them and I stopped eating momentarily to watch her expression. "Jake as in...Jacob? Jacob Black?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, why?"

Her hand slid under and grabbed the plate from my own hands.

"Hey!"

"I would say you are done eating." She stood up from her previously seated position and stared at me. "He will be after you. This was supposed to be a secret mission."

"Not really a secret when they would have noticed me missing either way. Can I have the food b-"

"That is why we chose you." She was muttering her words to herself now, "You would be the least missed... Alec assured me he watched for... for weeks." She was pacing now and I stood up, angrily.

"You know I am right here? I can hear everything you are saying..."

"AS IF THAT MATTERS." Her voice was a notch below screaming at me, and I found myself instinctively taking a few steps backward from her. "He will be after you and it could cause the DESTRUCTION of your kind. Do you understand?"

"But... you can't do that!"

"I certainly can do whatever I wish." Her voice had returned to it's natural calm state, but I was enraged.

"You can't DO THAT! They have families and lives and imprints and you just... you can't do that!" My hands were wringing the metal bars now, and Jane watched in amazement at my sudden shift in mood.

"Can't do what, Sister?" Alec was approaching us now and I sighed exasperated and sat on the bench/bed.
"The alpha was in his thoughts when we captured this wolf."

"I have a name." I spit back, though I was ignored.

"You don't suppose he will be after this wolf?"

"It's EMBRY." I repeated, but was ignored again.

"According to your research brother, this wolf is one of his closest acquaintances. There is no doubt in my mind he would be looking for him. Who's to say he wouldn't go to the Cullens and ask for help? He certainly has connections there now..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes wandering to mine and then back to her brother's.

"This IS the only wolf that has not imprinted, correct?"

"There is the other one, but Felix should be back shortly with him."

"Ahh, that is right."

My eyes were rapidly moving between Jane and Alec, my vision becoming blurred as I did so.

"SETH? Leave him out of this, whatever this is!"

Alec turned to face me. "How can we get an accurate reading of your physical skills with only one of you? There is information to compare. Averages to be done. I doubt you would understand."

"He is rather intelligent, Alec." Jane countered, and I found myself scrunching my face up in confusion at Jane's standing up for me.

"If the alpha does show however, we may be able to do the necessary tests on him instead of the other one who has imprinted."

"We shouldn't risk the chance of the Cullens discovering what we have done. They will protect them." Jane said firmly.

They were teasing me. They wanted me to react. Why else would they be disclosing all of their information to me? I decided not to give in. Breathing steadily, I calmed my nerves and quietly watched them as they continued.

"No matter. We will just continue on as planned. The imprint tests will stand to show their true weaknesses in physicality. It certainly will be..." his eyes met mine briefly, "interesting."

In one turn, he was gone leaving just me with Jane again.

"Imprint tests." I repeated. "What the hell are those?"

Jane shook her head. "It is of no importance."

"I'm not STUPID." As much as I tried to control myself, I couldn't help but become angry at the thought of an imprint being hurt.

"These bonds. Your 'imprinting' is very curious. An oddity. While we have our mates, your mates have a bond stronger than any one of ours. Master Aro wants to test his theory."

"And that theory is..."

"I cannot tell you."

"Is it like those other things that you say that NOW but you end up telling me anyway beca-"

"It is in your best interest that I don't tell you."

She looked at me and in her look I could tell exactly why she didn't wish to tell me.

"You... you're going to kill them, aren't you."

Jane remained still, "No."

"You're lying." My voice was gradually getting louder, "Right in front of them you are going to try and kill them, aren't you? Jane!?"

She crouched down to me again and searched my eyes.
"Aro wishes to test how willing your kind is to fight for their imprint. If it heralds any weaknesses or hidden strengths."

"They'll DIE, Jane. The wolf will DIE if you kill their imprints, do you not understand that? You can't just DO that! You'll kill them!" I was shouting at her now, though she never moved in reaction to my loud words in her face.

"I have orders."

"You have a heart, don't you?"

Silence.

"It doesn't work, Embry. I'm sure you know that."

"Than a... hypothetical heart. Sympathy. A conscience."

She stood up and brushed off her skirt.

"My line of work doesn't allow me to have such foolish weaknesses for the human condition."

It was my turn to stand up, gripping the bars and pressing my face as far passed them as I could manage.

"Jane, listen to me. You can't do that. It will be a murder like you have never seen it's like... a torture you can't imagine. Please... you have to be able to do something." I wasn't yelling anymore, I was pleading. Surely she had to see some kind of desperation in me.

"And you haven't imprinted?" She suddenly asked, even though I was pretty sure her and her brother were well aware of the answer.

"You know I haven't. You know I am a nothing to the pack apparently. You know I have a single mom at home with nothing but me and that I spend a lot of time alone these days. You know my favorite food is steak and you know I am one of the more willing people to participate in your little tests because I don't have much of anything to go back to. But what you DON'T know is even though I don't have an imprint, even though I only know what it feels like to have one through my brother's thoughts, I will fight to the death to protect them and their imprints. It is the only THE ONLY law that matters in our world." I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment before continuing.

"I will do whatever you wish. I will stay here for the rest of my dumb stupid life if you PROMISE to follow that law as well. If you can assure me no imprints or their imprinters will be harmed."

Jane searched my expression, her eyes combing over every inch of my now rigid body and she blinked once.

"Your offer will be considered." was all she said before turning around to leave the dungeon I was in.

"Jane..." I called out after her, though she never reacted. "Jane!" I called out louder until she was completely out of sight. "JANE!" I screamed only to hear my echo as a response.

I was alone again.

But who knew for how long.


Dun, Dun, DUNNNNN

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