13th February 2004
Flickering lights lined the medieval hallways as Albert followed Henry Greene, the immortal man walking fluidly a few paces ahead of him. They had arrived ten minutes prior, and he knew they were in an underground corridor system, no doubt rooms, endless amounts of rooms, connecting to each of these medieval stone corridors that were lined with torches, the amber flames flickering upon them.
He could see an elevator ahead of them, and there was a man waiting beside it, dressed in a dark coloured suit, his skin the colour of chocolate, dreadlocks pulled back into a neat ponytail so not to alter his image of absolute discipline and power. His red eyes observed them as they approached, an unlikely pair as they no doubt were; a angelically handsome immortal man with now ruby red eyes too and a human, mortal man, hands wrinkled a little from old age and dark brown eyes that had seen all the wonders of the world in their short yet meaningful life.
Henry gave a small nod. "Santiago," he greeted, the man giving a slight incline of his head in response. "Henry," he mused, a small smirk tugging at his mouth as those devilish red orbs moved to the man who stood silently, solemnly, by his side. "And who is your companion? Not food, I presume?" He drawled and the British man gave a wry chuckle. "Not quite. He has information for your master, information about gifted children that would be most beneficial to him and the Volturi."
The change was immediate; the sly smirk from the dark skinned mans face dropped in an instant, his back straightening up in an instant, all signs of a playful demeanour gone, a stone cold, business-like creature with hard red eyes replacing it immediately. He gave a sharp nod, pressing the button on the elevator. "Follow me." He clipped in a firm voice, stepping inside the sleek modern elevator as it arrived. Albert followed in, Henry after him, an immortal both behind and in front of him as the modern invention began to descend even deeper underground.
It ground to a halt not even a minute later, a pleasant yet soft sounding bell sounding when the metal doors opened. The sight amazed him. They were in what looked to be a reception area, a desk with files and a computer sitting upon it tucked away in the far corner of the room at an angle, a phone resting atop the raised wooden surface that separated the person behind it from the person in front of it, hiding what resided behind, mostly. A woman sat there, glossy auburn hair piled high upon her head with a few wispy yet clearly defined shimmering ringlets loose from the magnificent hairdo, each of them perfectly proportioned around her olive skinned face, thick lashes framing her dark green eyes with full lips and delicate feminine features. She gave a warm smile as they approached, but said nothing, her eyes on Albert, no doubt wondering what an aging man was doing with two breathtakingly handsome immortal creatures, something she one day hoped to become, and would sadly never be.
A pair of ornately carved wooden doors inlaid with gold detail laid up ahead, and he knew that was where his biggest challenge would yet come, but he'd made it this far, and he wasn't about to give up now, not when Will and Georgie were counting on him to do this, to make sure they both survived, and she'd said he wouldn't die, but, were her dreams always a hundred percent accurate?
Regrettably, no.
Santiago pushed open the doors with ease, rounding a small corner and coming to a wall that was simply lined and covered to the brim with ancient looking books, some looking as though they were at least a millennia old. A few other angelic looking beings lined the walls, crimson red eyes watching him as though he were food, and he was, he mused to himself. He was food, but that wasn't what he came here for.
No. He came here to save his own purposes in life, and do that he would.
Three men stood at a large, long mahogany table, the dark surface covered with thick, old looking tomes of knowledge that looked as though they'd seen countless centuries if not a few millennia's. They all looked different, and yet they were brothers in a sense, two more than the other one. Two stood while one sat in a wooden chair with a high backrest, the chair looking a little like a small throne. He had long brown hair that reached his shoulders, if not a little longer, and dead milky red eyes that held much suffering it was painful to even look at.
The next man, the one who turned around first, had shoulder length pale blonde hair, hate clouding his milky red eyes as soon as they landed on him, on something that was beneath him and that he would have had killed with a flick of his pale skinned hand. He glared viciously as the other man turned around, having heard the steady, calm heartbeat that now filled the room. This man had the blackest hair ever, it too reaching his shoulders, weathered looking pale white skin and milky red eyes that too focussed on his with a little hate, but more fascination than anything. He looked to Santiago. "My dear, what is this?"
Santiago gave a stiff bow. "Master, this human man claims to have knowledge of gifted children." He explained and the blonde gave a scoff, the sound like venom as it echoed around the room. "What could this fool possibly know? Just kill him Aro so we can return to the scripts." He hissed, a scowl etched onto his face.
The man -Aro- raised a hand. "Now, brother, let us hear what this man has to say. Gifted children are a rare occurrence indeed and if such beings exist, then we must investigate his claims." He soothed, his brother giving a silent glare but remaining silent, turning to face the scene that was occurring before him with scornful eyes.
Aro turned back to Albert. "Now," he began, milky red eyes dancing with excitement and intrigue. "You know of gifted children?" He breathed, and the aging man nodded, his weathered brown eyes remaining focussed on red ones. "I do -twins, my wards, whom I've cared for since the new millennia when they were orphaned." He stated and the raven haired man gave a high laugh, seemingly amused. "Oh twins!" He cried, red eyes alight with mirth. "Twins do seem to always possess such power," he gave a longing sigh, red eyes drifting away to where a boy and a girl, no older than fourteen, stood next to each other across the room, the blonde giving him a smile while her brother remained silent and unwavering.
Albert swallowed once. "She told me you can read minds with one touch, something she saw in her dreams. Is she truthful?" He asked and Aro clasped his fingers, pressing them to his mouth to hide a power hungry smile before he answered. "She is indeed. Let me see the truth for myself and see if what you are saying is indeed truthful, my dear." He stretched out a hand, uncurling his fingers in an invitation that even the mortal man would mean death if he were to refuse.
His wrinkled fingers met Aro's smooth white ones, the skin impossibly cold and soft at the same time, and the immortal man gave a sharp inhale as he began to filter through over half a dozen decades of memories. His eyes glazed over as he focussed on one in particular, a one that contained exactly what he was looking for.
A shriek echoed around the mansion, and Albert wasted no time in running to the source of the noise. The door was off its hinges, laid at the top of the stairs as he ran up them, a explosion mixed with a shattering sound ripping through the normally tranquil, peaceful home as shards of pottery went sailing past him, almost ripping into his own flesh had he not moved at the last second.
Georgina and William stood in the room, the ten year olds looking frantic, Georgina more so. She clutched at her head, weeping as yet another vase across the room shattered into flying smithereens, collapsing onto the floor in a heap of something that had once been beautiful. She gave a desperate wail, the noise sounding off-key due to the limited oxygen she took in, even with the cannula taped under her nose, feeding it too her in large doses to make sure she survived the night, let alone a week.
He took a step forward. "Mistress Georgina, remember, letting it all out isn't going to do any good," he reasoned as William stood there, looking equally distraught, their mother and their father having passed just last month in a violent storm that flooded the roads and caused unsafe driving conditions that made them crash, the car going up in flames before they could be pulled from the wreckage.
Her deep blue eyes, the deepest blue that Aro had ever seen a human possess, shimmered with sorrowful tears. "I can't control it!" She wept, another decorative piece exploding as if to prove her point, her twin brother ducking a little in order to escape the flying pottery shards. Albert took a step forward. "Yes, you can," he soothed, looking at William who was watching the scene with devastated green eyes, the ten year old boy having been bottling his emotions and not letting them loose, until now, it would seem, both of them being the best thing that happened to each other, and the worst. They amplified each other, made their miraculous and heavenly sent gifts more volatile and powerful, whichever way you were to describe it.
Albert gave a look to William, and his eyes hardened before he gently pulled Georgina down so she was kneeling with him. Albert, despite his protesting knees and back, knelt too, watching as his oldest ward by just a handful of minutes cupped his younger twin sisters face in his shaking hands, wetness coating the digits on his hand and he smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones and under her eyes, wiping away her angry and sorrowful tears.
Green locked with blue, and the cobalt blue orbs relaxed as their counterpart spoke, his lips moving firmly. "Calm down," he spoke firmly, pouring every ounce of conviction into his words, every ounce of his pain and anger at being robbed of their parents shortly after their tenth birthday. Blue eyes drooped a little as he continued speaking. "Sleep," he whispered, gently placing a hand in her copper coloured curls and pulling her head into the crook of his neck, holding her to him as her body relaxed under his simple order, tears leaking down her cheeks even as her eyes closed and they soaked his shirt, not that he cared one little bit, both arms coming up to wrap around his now subdued sister, a hand gently stroking over her soft tendrils.
Aro found the memory that the man had alluded to, his eyes glazing over once more as he watched that particular memory, hand tightening a little.
Georgina gave a small, wet sounding cough. "The Volturi aren't people you mess with and keep situations like ours from, and were the leaders to find out that such gifted individuals had been kept a secret from them, then they would annihilate Roderick and his cronies." She whispered, a small golden warmth covering his fingers as she grasped his hand.
He remained silent, nodding to Albert, the older male gently holding the bowl of steaming food. He gently spooned a spoonful into her mouth. The older man who'd seen things they could only dream about gave a warm smile. "If I can die for you to live a thousand years," he stated softly, giving her a small smile. He fed her another mouthful. "Then I would die now." He finished.
Her blue eyes became sorrowful. "I saw it, Albert." She whispered and he paused, giving her a look. "Your dreams?" He asked gently and she nodded. "You live, and the immortal takes you to Italy to tell the leaders yourself. One will want you executed, one will not care, and the last will want to read your mind with a mere touch of his hand. You must allow him." She whispered.
A sharp laugh, delighted and amazed, ripped from the leaders mouth before he could stop it, as if he ever would. "Magnifico," he whispered, releasing the mans wrinkled hand to clasp his own together in front of his mouth. Both his brothers looked to him, the blonde one growing impatient with being kept out of the loop, so to speak. "Well?" He demanded. "Does this mortal tell the truth?"
Aro whirled around, red eyes bright. "Oh, does he ever Caius! These twins are so very powerful!" He gasped out, turning back to Albert. "It was exactly like he described. This girl, a mere fourteen years of age, knew about all of us right down to how we would each react to her guardian! She knew you would want him executed, that dear Marcus would not want to be bothered with such affairs, and that I would want to read his mind!" He exclaimed jovially and Caius arched a brow, his eyes still narrowed. "And why are these children not here with this fool?" He snapped.
Albert answered this time. "The girl, she's severely unwell, so much that she won't survive until summer if she isn't healed. Her brother isn't far off himself. They are in England, caring for each other while I come in their absence." He answered calmly and Aro turned to face him, his eyes alight with wonder. "Then return to your wards and expect our arrival soon to see them for ourselves. Memories are excellent proof of their existence, but nothing is quite like seeing such powerful individuals for yourselves, hm?" He clasped his hands together once more and gave a nod to Santiago, the dreadlocked man giving another short bow before he gestured for him to follow him, and Henry made to follow too, but Aro tutted, making him freeze. "Not quite, Henry," he stated, the tall and well built man turning around. "Is something wrong?" He asked, dreading the answer.
The raven haired immortal tittered. "In Mr Samuels memories, I saw your encounter with him. You truly believed that such knowledge, the mere idea that gifted children existed, would not be of any use to me?" He questioned, a pleasant façade of a smile dancing across his face as he observed the seven centuries old vampire who stood before him.
Henry opened his mouth to answer, but Aro held a hand up to silence him, a wide smile across his face as he looked to the angelically deceptive blonde girl across the room. He curled a finger, and she was by his side in an instant, in less than a second. "Master?" She asked, her ruby eyed gaze unwavering as it looked at him, devoted to do his every bidding.
Aro smoothed a hand down her blonde locks, turning her to face Henry, the look on his face telling everyone he knew exactly what was coming, and what it would entail. "Remind dear Henry what happens when lowly beings such as him assume what the Volturi wants." He stated and a wide smile came to her face as she turned her decorated eyes onto the towering man in front of her, her smile widening to a smirk as the first agonised scream came from his mouth and he collapsed to the marble floor, and as another round of screams echoed down the medieval stone corridors, a human heart increased in pace for the first time, those yells echoing endlessly down the corridors that were bathed in the glowing amber light, none of which brought him comfort as he stepped back into the elevator, the door sliding shut and sealing him away from the immortal demons that stood just metres away from him.