A's POV
I saw him in hurry, walking fast; too fast I thought to be actually considered rational. I wondered why he was in such a hurry, for angel he looked quite distressed. His perfect forehead was creased, into an emotion I could not identify, over his gorgeous eyes. However, my musings did not become full blown curiosity until he pushed past me in that awful hurry of his. He pushed past me with such force, that the blow mixed with my nature clumsiness caused me to stumble backwards. This was not what concerned me though, when his arm brushed against mine, I felt a chill. That was definitely not normal, I decided. This was not just a chill that you get from being out in the cold for too long, which would not have made sense anyway, we were in the middle of Italy for Christ sake. No I decided that it was more then that, that it was not a superficial chill but one that came from him no matter what almost like it was settled inside of him.
I regained my posture and turned around preparing to stare after him. There was no need for that, he had stopped about 2 feet away from me, still with his back turned and seemed to be struggling with something. Even from the back I couldn't deny that he looked, well, perfect. I could see slight muscles straining against the back of the shirt that he wore. However, they were not quite big enough to look completely menacing. I stopped staring at his back and moved up to his head. His hair was an unusual bronze colour, which looked like it was rather messy most days, but even more so today, like he had ran his hand through more then a few times in anguish. This seemed like a reasonable explanation and now that I looked a little closer, I realised this is exactly how he looked, like he was in physical pain somehow and was completely defeated. He shoulders slouched and his head was bent down. His hand was up to his face, his fingers squeezing his nose at the top, like he was trying to make a very hard decision.
Somehow, though he still managed to look unbelievably beautiful. I stood there admiring him until he dropped his hands, seeming to make up his mind. Then turned around so fast it stunned me for a moment.
That didn't last for long though as curiosity soon took its place again. I stared up at this curious creature, hardly daring to breathe, scared for some reason that it would ruin his perfectness, because this is exactly what he seemed to be, perfect. I started from his neck as this was all I reached up to and slowly moved my eyes upwards. I took in his strong jaw line, his full lips, his straight nose, and his high cheekbones and finally rested on his eyes. It was these that took me most by surprise, I was expecting them to be a brilliant shade of green, it seemed an appropriate colour to go with the rest of his features, but they were a startling shade of black. A colour that I thought to be a very unnatural colour.
I was not the colour that got me interested though it was the range of emotions that fleeted through them that intrigued me.
In the single second that we stood there they managed to show first hope, then disappointment, and then mirrored my curiosity. He seemed to stay curious for a while, but not for more then about five seconds and it was the last look that showed that pulled a frown on my face. I say look because it started as a pain that seemed to strangle him slowly inside. Then his face crumbled, and I realised what was so strange about him sure he was pale and I could feel the cold from where I stood, but that was not what held my curiosity the most and it wasn't until it crumbled that I realised he looked as hard and set as a rock.
A rock that was crumbling right before my eyes. I felt that I should do something, he looked in so much pain I couldn't bear it. I went to take a step forward and lifted my head up a bit. Then he mumbled something and turned and ran. I blinked hard wondering what I had done, and he was gone.
I put my foot back where I lifted it from and became very much confused. I wondered what I had done to make him run from me. It could have been my confidence, my mother was always rambling on about how I intimidated people sometimes I had once asked her why this was and she said that I looked to innocent and people expected me to be shy. I thought about this for a moment, could I have intimidated this extraordinary guy? No I did not think that was possible he did not look like the type that got intimidated easily; no he would do the intimidating, I decided. He did a pretty good job on me. I shook my head as I thought this. I hated that, I hated admitting that someone could have that much power over me and he didn't even look like he was trying, he was way too distracted. I shuddered to think how much more effective that would be normally.
I stood there for a while longer and thought about the way he had just stood there, so still like he didn't even need to fidget. I women pushed past me then surprising me.
When did people get so close? No, wait. When did they move in the first place? I struggled hard to think, but the last time I remembered being pushed by the crowd, was when a very cold arm touched mine. Did he have anything to do with it? I didn't remember a crowd while he was around.
It was almost as if everyone else was avoiding him. I turned around to look at the people surrounding the courtyard where I stood, no-one seemed to notice anything different. I looked across the courtyard why I was here.
I saw the face of the person I had been longing to see for days. Oh gosh, his a hunk! I thought my face turning red at the turn my thoughts had taken. That was when I realised something. The man that had been standing in front of me 3 seconds earlier didn't seem to put the same thoughts in my head. Sure he was breathtakingly beautiful, but I had merely admired his features. I hadn't even blushed the way I usually did, when someone so attractive was near. But then I thought about a bit more and had my answer almost straight away.
I didn't have those thoughts because I knew somehow that, he did not belong to me, he belonged to someone very special and somehow I knew not to mess with this, because that person was important somehow.
Then I realised what he had mumbled before running away. "Bella…"
And then he was gone. I wondered briefly about who this Bella may be. Someone very lucky, I thought to myself. That was the last thought I had of the strange encounter, as Aden was standing in front of me then, having ran across the courtyard to meet me. "Hiya April" he said a huge smile still managed to slip across his face even though he was bent over to catch his breath.
Definitely a hunk, and his all mine. I almost went giddy at the thought. Instead I controlled my breathing and said as normally as I could. "Hey… so what did I miss?"
Aden looked absolutely gorgeous as he stood there trying to catch his breath. His tanned face was sweaty and he shook some sweat out of his blonde locks. He stood up finally and narrowed his blue eyes. He ignored my question and asked one if his own.
"Who was that?"
I was utterly confused. Who was he talking about? I had been standing here waiting for him.
"What do u mean?"
"That freaky, pale tall guy that was staring at you a minute ago, April."
"Oh" I suddenly knew exactly who he meant know and my memory came back to be bringing back images of the mysterious guy who was standing in the same spot Aden stood right now.
"I have no idea." I said truthfully, though he must have seen something else besides confusion in my face, because I could soon see the jealousy in his eyes.
"Seriously just some weirdo tourist I guess." His eyes softened and he grabbed my hand. I smiled up at him.
"So what do we do for Saint Marcus Day anyway?" I asked him.
He looked disbelieving the same as he had looked a couple of days ago when I had told him that I had never been to a Saint Marcus Day celebration.
"I'm a tourist remember' I pointed out.
He laughed. "Yeah but still, never?"
"Nop, never."
"Hmm well I guess first we need to go shopping."
Now it was my turn to look disbelieving he wanted to go shopping! I looked down at myself, yes I was dressed, and rather nicely I thought. What does he think I need?
"For what?" I asked confused.
"Red." He said simply.
"Oh" I said. Now that he mentioned it a lot of people were wearing red. Actually everyone was wearing red. Except me. Must be another tradition, like wearing fangs and cloaks. It all seemed ironic, that they celebrated running things out of town by dressing up like them. I giggled then and Aden looked down at me with questioning eyes. I just shook my head.
"So which shop's first?"
…
I stood less then an hour later in a red sweater and my black shorts. I was happy with this, but I still longed to go into the little boutiques that lined the streets. However, I did not have the money for those sorts of shops, so this was the next best thing.
"It looks great" he said.
But as I looked up I could see his eyes drifting back from a rather beautiful girl standing in the shadows.
"So what's next?"
"Umm…" he looked nervous like he was not at all sure. I laughed softly at his lack of words, and blushed when he looked down at me.
"Any ideas?" he asked me. Just like him make me make all the decision. I rolled my eyes.
"Why not just follow the crowd?" I scrunched my nose up at this it was not a term I liked to use too often. I hated the idea of being a sheep, as my mum put it, of following everyone else. I liked my individuality.
"Sure" he said not noticing my discomfort.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the crowd.
"So… where's your mum today?" I held back the urge to laugh at his attempts at conversation. So I smiled up at him instead. And stopped breathing when he smiled back at me. Gosh he was so gorgeous!
His smiled turned to confusion and I remembered I hadn't answered him yet.
"Oh… um… well she was walking through town yesterday and run into this lady, well she was more then a lady, a bit slutty if you ask me she wore a tight red top that was way too tight on her and a tiny miniskirt over black tights…" I looked up then to see Aden staring at me amused. "Anyway," I said getting back to the story. "She invited mum to a tour and mum accepted." I shrugged.
I looked up at Aden and saw that he had turned white, like he knew more to the story then he was letting on. "What?" I demanded stopping and staring at him. He said nothing just shook his head, his lips in a tight line.
We were both distracted then, as a woman pushed past us. We both stared after her.
"What the hell?" I murmured.
It was not that she had pushed past us that had grabbed my attention, but the way she was running. She was running in the opposite direction, with a determined and panicked look on her face. She looked like her life depended on wherever she was running, wait no not her life, no, someone else, someone much more important then herself.
I gasped as I saw her jump into the fountain in the middle of the square and run through the water spraying water everywhere, onto the people around it, then she reached the edge and sprang of the board into the crowd.
"Weird." I said as she disappeared from my sight.
Then my attention was brought back, with a loud chime.
"What the hell is that?" I had to yell just to be heard by Aden.
He laughed, "The clock tower." He said amusement written all over his face.
"Why is it so loud?" I yelled again as another toll was heard.
"So we know when its noon." He said laughing now.
"I think we can see the time." I said scowling again.
I knew there was more then one reason why I did not like this area it was so loud. Just then, as if everyone heard my thoughts, the sound picked up and the crowd became impossibly thicker. "Cant we go somewhere quieter?" I complained.
"No way, we are just getting to the best part."
I groaned and he smiled.
…
We stood watching the evening parade it was quite elaborate, I had to admit, but still pretty stupid. Full grown adults were walking around with fangs hanging out of the mouth and cloaks tied around there shoulders. I had to laugh. "Oh, come on, you don't actually believe vampires actually go around with fangs and cloaks do you?"
Aden just laughed at me, I had been making comments like this all day. "It's Saint Marcus Day you don't have to believe it April."
"Well I don't believe it" a voice behind us said. I heard Aden snort and I looked around to find a boy no more then 13 years of age looking back at me.
He was quite short and had dark skin and green eyes.
"You don't?" I asked quite surprised.
"No," he said simply.
"Why not?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged "My mum works with vampires." He said.
He said it in such a normal way like he was really saying well my mum works with accountants, for a minute I wasn't even sure if that's what he really meant.
"Yeah," he said carrying on the conversation. "And they certainly don't have fangs."
"They don't?" I asked
"Nop."
"What about the cloaks?"
"Well that part is true, but only to keep out of the sun."
"Because otherwise they turn to dust." I hadn't asked this I was simply stating; I had seen it on Buffy.
He surprised me then by laughing. Can you believe his nerve? He was laughing at me!
"You watch way too much TV" he told me.
I couldn't believe it he was patronizing me. This little stupid no-it-all was patronizing me. My anger was rising dangerously and I wished I had fangs.
"What do you propose happens then?" I was having a hard time keeping my voice down and Aden noticed, he had seen me angry before, he grabbed my shoulders and shushed me. I glared up at him in response.
This irritating little boy didn't even seem to notice. "They sparkle" he said, like this was way too obvious.
I had to laugh, and it came out a little hysterical, the image of any one sparkling was outrageous.
"And you mother works for them?" Aden asked, like this little boy was crazy. I was starting to consider the thought myself and this calmed me down considerably.
"Mm hmm" was all he said.
"And what are these vampires like that your mother works for?"
I could tell that Aden was humoring him and I rather enjoyed this. Now who was doing the patronizing?
"Well…" he said and Aden smirked, he saw this and carried on. "Well they are rather pale, way more pale then you." He started pointing at me. I raised my eyebrows. He nodded and carried on. "And they are all really beautiful, no, beyond beautiful, they're perfect."
"They're beautiful?" I asked, my curiosity starting up again.
"Perfect." He corrected me.
"Right well they're perfect."
"Yes, well it's to lure in their prey." My gut dropped at those words, I knew what that meant and I was sure it wasn't just from TV this time. But I was determined not to show it, I did not want to show this boy that his words had any affect on me.
"Anything else?" I asked sweetly.
"Well… they have…" he seemed reluctant to finish it his sentence.
"Go on" I encouraged, not quite sure if I wanted to hear it or not.
"Red eyes…"
"Red eyes?"
"Yes, Red eyes."
My brow wrinkled.
"Why red?" I thought I already knew the answer to that question to.
"The blood." How could this boy be so calm saying this? Why was he not panicking like I was.
"And you mother works for them?" I asked him incredulously.
"Yes, she a receptionist for the Volturi, in that castle right there." He seemed smug as he said this and pointed up to a very ancient and very magnificent castle. I hadn't noticed that we stood near it until now. I wondered how I could have not noticed it was quite a large castle and was casting an even larger shadow that covered us. It looked like it had been there for a few centuries, but still seemed completely intact. It was at least 3 stories high, maybe more, and had a couple of torrents at the very top.
"What does you mother do in this castle?" I asked, I couldn't quite understand what vampires would need receptionists for.
"She helps organize the 'tours', she's quite good with the tourists." He looked around then and so did I, it was the first time I had realized that the crowd had moved on. It was eerily quiet.
"Tours?" I asked, for the first time he looked uncomfortable and this sparked my curiosity again.
He shifted his weight around rather uncomfortably.
"Yes…well…you see…they have to eat sometimes…and they don't like eating the locals…" his voice was a mumble by the end of it. I stared at him my mouth hanging open.
"They eat…"
"Tourists" he finished my sentence.
"And the tourists just agree to this?" my body was shaking now and not from anger.
"Well no…like I said… they umm… lure them in."
I remembered another part of the conversation then, hadn't he said something about luring before?
"With their beauty." I said. He just nodded.
I remember something else now, I certain beauty that I had seen yesterday, a certain beauty that had told us of such tours, a tour which my own mother had agreed to go on.
"April! April!"
Aden was yelling my name, the little boy looked too scared to do much else besides stare, I was vaguely aware that I was on the ground, but I did not remember how I had got there.
"Mum…" was all that was able to come out of my lips, it sounded no more then a sob to me.
Comprehension seemed to dawn on the boy. "Sorry…" was all he said and then he turned and ran.
I was faintly aware the Aden was speaking to me again. He looked helpless then he ran off as well, looking over his shoulder every few minutes, reluctant to leave me.
Then I was on my own, though it didn't matter, I would always be on my own now. I had no mum, I had never had a dad, I had no family, no-one, I was all alone and all I could do was sob.
A little part in the back of my brain was thinking that it was a good thing Aden left, I never liked crying in front of people.
A couple of hours, or maybe a couple of minutes, later I heard a distant noise. I didn't even bother to look up to see what it was. I heard voices, but I wasn't concentrating on what they said. Then sooner then I expected there were 3 very pale faces in front of me. I recognized two of the faces, the only two painful faces that I had seen today. However, they did not look painful anymore. The guy looked happy now and a little bit relieved though still nervous. The girl was shaking almost uncontrollably, and the guy had his arm around her, I wandered if this was why she was shaking, I knew how cold that arm was. Though she was shaking she still looked unbelievably happy.
There was one more girl standing on the other side of the girl. She was very small and as pale as the guy. She looked like a little pixie. I was reminded of Tinkerbell. This girl was the one to speak. I tried to concentrate on her words to stop my sobbing. I did not want these people to see me crying pathetically.
"Edward," she started. "We need to help her, she's going to be very important to Bella," she looked down at me with sympathetic eyes. I saw the other girl look at her with a rather confused expression. "…to all of us." The pixie said.
I looked up at the man, who must have been Edward. He looked at this other girl, seemed to study her, then he nodded. Then he looked down at the girl in his arms, she still looked dreadfully confused, he looked at her with a strange expression in his eyes, which I recognized as love. So this must be Bella. I meant to study Bella to see what was so special about her. But without my permission my eyes drooped and closed.
The last thing I remember is being picked up by the little pixie. I was quite surprised at how much strength she had. Then it was black.
