Chapter Two

Bella

The pain was changing once more, I felt like I had been placed in an oven but that the temperature was being turned down very slowly and I was no longer cooking but I still wasn't becoming a vampire either. I could still feel my lungs expanding and dragging in air and my heart still beat albeit a little faster than it should. I'd watched enough poor souls change to understand that once the vampire poison seared its way into every cell of a human body everything stopped, the human died and the monster was born, so why was I so different?

I began to worry what might happen to me if they couldn't turn me into a vampire, after all, I'd been allowed to live this long only because of the gift I was supposed to possess. A gift no one seemed able to explain or even to understand. Would I find myself ripped to pieces like so many other humans I had been forced to watch? Or would I become a meal for Diablo, Serpiente or La Rossa? I wasn't sure which would be worst but at least I wouldn't become one of the evil damned who haunted the human subconscious and tortured their bodies until they finally gave out and died. Would all the years of torment and fear have been ultimately for nothing? Had my parents died for a lie?

I could have told Diablo he was making a mistake, I wasn't special, I had no gift, but I wished right now that I did, that I could snap my fingers and make every vampire writhe in agony before burning to ash on its own individual pyre.

Maybe if I could escape I could get my revenge somehow, kill every single vampire I could find and dance around their ashes, it was a wonderful dream but hardly likely. I knew how hard it was to elude capture by them, I'd tried often enough myself in the past. My world now was these four walls and if I didn't become a vampire would they leave me here to rot?

Maybe I could escape, though, after all, I was older now and I'd seen so much more. If I could sneak out while they were feeding I might stand a chance. Vampires became totally fixated by the scent of human blood, they fell into a frenzy which didn't end until they had finished draining the humans.

All I needed was a way to break out of this room when they were feeding and to run as far and as fast as I could before they noticed I was missing. It was a plan….or maybe just a wonderful dream, after all, dreams were all that kept me sane all these years.

My favourite was when I trapped the demons who had killed my parents so viciously in a deep pit they couldn't jump out of. I would pour gasoline over them, just a little and then flick a match in, one for my mom and then one for my dad. They wouldn't die but lose limbs to the flames and then I would do the same again, over and over until they were begging for mercy, only then would I stop and leave them with limbs and faces burned away to survive in agony, unable to escape as I filled the pit in with quicklime and left them to die slowly, burned away by the lime, for being the horrific monsters they were.

I found myself able to hear them and knew they were close by waiting for the transformation to finish, for me to become like them.

"She's too quiet. I've never known a human suffer the agony of the burn this quietly. Something is wrong."

"Calm down, there's nothing wrong woman. She's special, we knew that when we snatched her, this is probably something to do with her gift."

"Didn't he give you any indication of what her gift would be?"

"You know he didn't, he only sees that she has one, not what it is. Once she becomes one of us she'll soon display her talent and then…..well, who knows."

I had recognized Serpiente asking the question, his voice deep and distinctive but it was Diablo's voice that made my blood run cold, he really was the King of the demons.

I remembered the vampire who had pointed me out, I didn't see him until my parents had been murdered before my eyes but then he appeared, a serious looking man with white hair, much older than the demons and much less frightening. I could still hear his high pitched voice and the words he said as he pointed a long white finger at me.

"She will be remarkable, mark my words, powerful beyond your wildest dreams."

Well, it seemed he had been wrong and I wondered if they would hunt him down and murder him for misleading them. He'd picked out a dud this time.

The pain was almost gone and I knew I would be waking up real soon, as a human, not a vampire! I thought of lots of ways of killing that particular vampire, the one who had mistaken me for someone special. It was ironic in a way, I found out that they had wanted me for their master so Diablo wasn't the King of the Vampires, after all, he worked for someone just like my dad had worked for his boss.

I dreamed that this all powerful vampire might come here and kill the demons and the one who had pointed me out. If he did I really hoped I would still be alive to see it even if he decided to kill me afterwards, it would be worth it to see my tormentors die and to know that at least some humans would live because they didn't.

Eventually, the pain faded to a dull ache and I knew I would have to open my eyes, to see the demons watching me, part eager part confused for they too could hear my heart beating and see my chest rise and fall. This was a victory of sorts and as I sat up I smiled to see the puzzled expressions on their faces.

They were in my room with me although close to the door and I thought I understood why. I'd seen newly awakened vampires and I knew they were dangerously unpredictable although three of them should be able to overpower one newborn. I'd seen one of Diablo's soldiers get too close to a newly wakened vampire once, it had been a terrible sight, the newborn had ripped the soldier to pieces with his hands and teeth although it was good to know that it meant there wouldn't be one more vampire in the world, he had just taken the place of the one he had destroyed.

"I told you there was something wrong, she's still human. I can hear her heart beating and it's plain she's still breathing but how is that possible?"

Diablo snarled at La Rossa and she cowered back, his temper was scary even for his friends.

"It's just taking longer, maybe that's part of her gift. We'll leave her longer. Look in on her in a few more hours."

Serpiente studied me closely,

"But surely if venom was still working on her she would be in agony, she doesn't even look uncomfortable. Maybe…"

"Go check on the others Laurent and stop trying to work things out, things you know nothing about."

Serpiente scowled and slunk out of my room giving Diablo a look that told me he would like to kill his leader as he went and once he was gone Diablo turned to La Rossa speaking so quietly I could barely make out his words although I doubted he was whispering to stop me from hearing.

"Do you think it might have something to do with what happened to the soldier who bit her?"

La Rossa shrugged,

"Do we really know what happened to him? Maybe there was something wrong with him, that's why he died and why she hasn't become a vampire."

Diablo nodded staring at me with those cold cruel ruby eyes.

"Perhaps, you think we should try again?"

La Rossa nodded then stared at him and backed away shaking her head in panic,

"Not me, I'm not risking it James and neither should you. What if there is something about her that caused his death, it was horrible."

Diablo smiled showing his white teeth coated in vampire venom,

"It was certainly interesting and maybe you are right but I cannot report a failure, we must try again."

"Who, though? Another soldier? You know the rumor of the last one's death has started to circulate, they're all nervous around her, even if you give an order…."

"No need, Laurent wasn't here when it happened, he's only just got back and I'm beginning to think he is unhappy here. This is too important to risk any leaks so…...go fetch him, he can have the honor."

La Rossa smiled and I knew she wouldn't be concerned if Serpiente died, I didn't think she cared about anyone but Diablo.