Light drops of rain touch my skin as soon as I graciously land on my feet on the stone pavement below my window, and I relish in the feeling of being out in the open air. However, when I have merely taken three steps out into the paved road, I realize that I have no idea where I am going. What do humans do this late at night to entertain themselves? Surely, they must be sleeping, a strange habit that I will never quite understand.
What a foolish idea of me to come here. I should have stayed in my room, safe, instead of wandering around aimlessly, just waiting to be ambushed by humans. Or worse, for a member of my coven to see me.
But just as I turn on my feet to jump back into my tower again, I hear it. The sound of music. Not the sort of music that I am accustomed to, with its elegant strings and piano. This music is a thumping, loud, rhythmic music that reminds me of pulsating blood.
I turn back with determination, following the music. On the way, I marvel at the beautiful houses; the balconies overflowing with all sorts of colorful flowers, the flickering lights indicating restaurants and stores, and the occasional humans peeking out of their windows. It feels as if I have stepped into an entirely different world.
The music gets louder, and I soon arrive to the corner of a street, where a bright neon blue sign that simply says 'locale notturno'. I stop outside and weigh my options. The smell of human blood gushes out of the door, invading my senses and setting fire to my throat. I haven't fed in weeks, meaning that there's a risk that I end up killing every single human in there. But my head seems cleared than ever before, and it is not because of my hunger. I am about to take a step that might change my life forever.
I open the door and walk into the narrow hallway, facing a staircase descending into a room radiating blue light and loud music. For each step I take, I am more confident. I will have this one night as a human, and then I will go back to my life as a powerful vampire. Think of it as an experiment if you like.
"Ehi, là!" A gruff male voice snaps me out if my thoughts as I realize that I have reached the bottom of the stairs and started walking into the enormous space filled with people. I turn back to face my adressor with a frown. "Devi pagare per entrare." The man says, my frown deepening even more. I have to pay to enter? From the looks of it, these humans are just dancing.
I do not have any money on me of course, meaning that I have two ways to go. Threaten the man, or flirt with him. Not wanting to cause a scene, I decide in the latter.
Flashing the man a brilliant smile, I remove the black coat draped around my neck, revealing bare shoulders and an elegant burgundy lace and velvet dress. I then hang it on my left arm, as if I am simply too warm and not trying to manipulate the man.
"Chiaro." I reply, thankful to get some use of my native tongue: I only need to take one step toward the man to see the amazement in his face as he takes my beauty in. Vampires, compared to humans, always seem to be beautiful, nevermind their appearance before as humans. I cannot imagine what I looked like before my rebirth, but I assume that I just have been quite lovely, even without my immortal features. Even now, most males I am surrounded with cannot take their eyes off me. Whether it is because of fear or because of my beauty however, I cannot know. All I know is that Aro has told me that I am the most precious and beautiful being he has ever laid his eyes upon.
It is those words that I trust as I approach the man in the club further.
"Oh no… I must have forgotten my wallet at home!" I exclaim, furrowing my brows with distress. The large man with the stern face seems to relax his shoulders just a little bit.
"I must ask you to-"
"You see…" I start, stepping closer to the man, tilting my head to expose my lean neck slightly. He seems to stop breathing as I lean in towards his ear. "My wallet is not the only thing I have forgotten. I could go home and get it, but that means I would have to retrieve my underwear as well, and I would really hate to do that."
I step back again and flash the doorman a coy smile, watching the sweat prickle down his temple as he tries to stutter out an answer.
"Entrate." He finally says, motioning with his hand towards the entrance to the club. I mumble a "thank you" and follow his direction, truly stepping into the club.
It is not until now that I notice just now many people are crowding the club. Every single area of the small dancefloor is occupied by a dancing human, and the air is hot and the smell tangy with sweat. The blue neon spotlights illuminating the dancefloor give their skin an indigo hue, making them hard to separate from each other.
But one face sticks out among the crowd. I might not have noticed the man I saw yesterday in the street if he had not been staring at me already. I meet his gaze and find myself breathless, a very strange sensation for me. I did not notice from afar how utterly beautiful the man was, but now that perfect face is grinning right at me, and I find myself willing to turn around and leave the club.
Something in my chest feels strange, and honestly, it scares me. What would I be if I had not found you? My beautiful, utterly dangerous Biancaneve. Aro's voice echoes in my ears, the memory as clear as day. Perhaps the words should bring me back to my senses, and back to him. However, all they do is make me straighten my posture, lift my chin and look straight back at the man without saying away from his intense gaze. I am beautiful, and I am utterly dangerous. No silly human, no matter how strikingly handsome, will ever change that.
While being intrigued by the man, I am not so interested in squeezing myself onto the dancefloor, rubbing myself against the sweaty humans and being driven mad by the sweet smell of their pulsing blood. I instead head towards the bar that is situated on a platform above the dancefloor, climbing the staircase while catching small glances at the dark-haired stranger. He is dancing with a woman, but it is not the blonde from the day before. How strange. He seemed to love her when I saw them together.
While grinding against the brunette in his arms, it is not her that he is looking at. Even as I turn away from him and approach the nearest barstool at the wooden counter, I feel his gaze burning on my back.
I realize as I sit down at the bar that you are probably supposed to order something to drink. However, I have never had a drop of anything other than blood in the life that I remember, and the mere thought of injecting something else is disgusting.
"Are you going to order anything?" The blond, young bartender asks in English for once, with what seems like a Nordic accent. I smile at him but find myself at loss for words. I am lost in this world; it is so entirely different from mine.
"What do you recommend?" I grin, batting my eyelashes. The bartender, who seemed irritated merely moments ago, reluctantly smiles back and winks at me with his blue eyes.
"For a beauty like you… A sangria, perhaps?" He raises his brows, rubbing his stubbled chin with his hand.
I let out a chuckle at the irony and shake my head with resignation.
"I trust your professional opinion." My voice sounds odd in my ears, strangely human when it's not bouncing against the stone walls of the castle I call my home. I watch in fascination as the bartender opens a fridge below the racks of bottles in the wall above his head, and shuts the door with a box of chopped up apples and oranges in his hand, which he proceeds to add into a large glass. He then picks up a wooden tool of sorts and begins to mash the fruit into the bottom of the glass; I assume it is to enhance the flavor of them. He then opens a bottle of a golden liquid, pouring a splash of that into the mixture of muddled fruit, and lastly tops it off with another red beverage that bears a strange resemblance to blood. Before handing it to me, he takes a slice of orange and perches it on the edge of the glass.
"It's on me." A hoarse, accented voice says from my right just as I take the glass into my hand. I gently put the glass dish on the counter, already knowing who the man is. I heard him follow me up to the bar with my vampire hearing.
"Sure." The bartender tells the dark-haired man politely, although his face falls with disappointment. Perhaps I am better at this human thing than I give myself credit for.
"I would have paid for that myself if I hadn't forgotten my wallet at home." I turn to face the dark-haired stranger as soon as the bartender has walked away, but my voice falters at the end as I study the man.
Up close like this, I see little flaws in his face. His nose is just slightly crooked, there's a jack in his right eyebrow, and his upper lip is just a little bit fuller than his lower. Still, it seems to make him even more beautiful. Not in the way Aro, Caius, Edward and the other vampire males I have met are. Not beautiful like a porcelain doll, perfectly symmetrical and flawless.
The man grins and shakes his head with disbelief, his dark curls bobbing with the movement. When he looks up at me again, his chocolate eyes are filled with life.
"Who goes to a club and leaves their wallet at home?" He chuckles, and I realize that his accent is not Italian.
Any other night, and I would have strangled him for using that tone with me. But I am strangely amazed by the vibrancy of the air around him, and that he doesn't shy away from me like my vampire friends do.
"Why bring it when men insist on paying for you?" I reply with a wink. The man chuckles once more, and I begin to think that a smile is quite frequently upon his face.
"You have a point." I cannot help but marvel at the way his dark lashes send shadows upon his tan cheekbones, and the way his hand is dangerously close to mine on the bar counter. "Although usually, when I buy girls drinks, they actually drink them."
I glances down at the glass and realize what a tricky situation I have put myself in. I ordered the drink. To not drink it, especially after he payed it for me, would be very impolite and strange.
"Oh, really? Do you often but girls drinks?" I lift my eyebrows to try and distract the man, whose name I don't yet know, but fear that that might be best.
The dark-haired stranger looks down at his hands, placed together on the wooden counter. When he looks up again, a mischief flickers in those sparkling eyes.
"Only when I can't take my eyes off them." I realize that the flicker I mistook for mischief actually is lust, and it makes my throat go dry. I know that this is flirting, something that I am acknowledged with, despite my lack of knowledge of human life. But some meaningless flirting won't hurt anyone, will it?
"What about the girl you were dancing with just minutes ago?" I motion towards the dancefloor with my head, and the man follows my gaze before shrugging.
"Not even near as beautiful as you." He replies almost instantly, and something in my chest flickers again. It has not flickered like this for many, many years, and remembering that... I shake off the thought. One night, that's it.
"How strange." I ponder, lost in my own thoughts. First the blonde, then the brunette and now me. -why so many women? "Where I come from, one chooses their mate and stays with them forever."
I do not realize that I said those last words out loud until I meet the pair of puzzled yet fascinated eyes peering at me.
"And where is it that you come from?" The man asks, his eyes flickering down to my glass again. I really must find a solution to this problem.
"I-" I start, struggling to find the right words. Truth be told, I don't know where I'm from, originally. But when Aro found me, I could already speak Italian, which means that I am from Italy at least. "What I meant is that my family has raised me with the idea that you find a partner that suits you, and you stay with them for the rest of your life."
"You're very strange, you know that?" The man smiles tentatively, but there is no mockery in his voice, only intrigue.
"If you only knew." I mumble in return, but cannot help but smile back. The action of genuine smiling feels strange and unfamiliar, but I like the way it makes my chest feels slightly warmer, opposed to the permanent cold.
That's when I smell it. The delicious smell of sweet, tangy blood, filling my nose and filling my senses. It sets fire to my throat and animal instincts start to bubble up inside of me. Kill. Feed.
"Are you alright?" The dark-haired stranger asks with worry, and my eyes flash back to his. However, instinctively, they travel down to his neck, where I can see his heart pulsing in his jugular. Delicious blood. Dear God, the smell of his blood is so lovely that my entire being starts singing with ecstasy. It is nothing like I have ever felt before. Why didn't I notice it before? Now all I can think of is how easy it would be to grab him, speed out of the bar and drink every last drop of his blood in a dark, empty alley.
A warm touch on my hand once again wakes me up. The man has placed his tattooed hand on mine, his touch leaving burning traces on my cold, alabaster skin. I realize that I am gripping the bar counter so hard that I have made dents in the wood, which must be why there is fear lurking in the stranger's eyes. Fear. He fears me. Well, isn't that what any sane human would do? Of course, there's no way to know that I'm a vampire; I have gone so long without blood that my eyes are nearly pitch black.
But the thought of this dazzling, living man being afraid of me makes me come back to my senses.
"I need some air." I say, my voice coming out in a strangled sound. The man leans back from me slightly, his shoulders relaxing, but his hand remains on mine.
"Let's get out of here." He answers, looking towards the door. I don't exactly think that your company will be of much help in this situation, I want to tell him. But looking at him makes me feel and I am not done feeling for the night.
So instead of making a sarcastic remark on how getting me into bed isn't that easy, I nod and follow him out towards the exit of the bar. On the way out I see a man clutching his bleeding nose, and I have to bite my jaw hard together to not kill him on the spot. I am thousands of years old; I should be able to show some restraint at least.
As soon as we are out of the club, my throat starts to calm down a little, and I manage to shove down the thought of ripping the man's throat open. I instead turn around to face him, just to realize that he is standing merely inches away from me, a gentle hand on my shoulder, worry still in his eyes.
"What happened?" He asks softly, and I notice that he has a few dark freckles on his nose, and that his cologne smells like summer rain.
I once again find myself at loss for words. I am an ancient vampire, royalty among my kind, and a dangerous weapon. I am not used to people taking care of me, asking me if I am alright.
"I'm okay, it's just that sometimes, too many people in the same room all at once can be very overwhelming." I smile. A strand of the man's curly dark hair has fallen into his left eye, so I reach you and brush it away without thinking. But as I am about to lower my hand again, he grabs my wrist gently. Instead of ripping my hand free, I let his touch warm my skin. It feels strange and extraordinarily fantastic.
"You're freezing." The man states, his eyes travelling to my bare shoulders. I must have left my coat inside. You don't notice those kinds of things when you don't feel temperature like humans.
I don't object when he removes his own leather jacket and drapes it over my shoulders, but the smell that engulfs me sets my throat on fire again. I need to feed, and I have never smelled such delicious blood as the man before me. Not even Bella.
"I don't know your name." I say, my eyes fixed on his. I find it hard to look away from that spark of life, and the way he looks at me like no one else has. As if he is trying to understand me.
"Etienne." He says with a clear French accent, which solves the riddle of where the man is from.
"Bianca-" I start, but then stop abruptly. Biancaneve is the name Aro has given me; the name that belongs to my vampire self, and not the woman I am pretending to be now. "Bianca." I repeat, smiling.
"How lovely to make you acquaintance, Bianca." Etienne grins, making a theatrical bow. "Will you walk with me?"
I glance at the clocktower that belongs to my home for the past two hundred years. I wonder if Aro is thinking of me, but then I shake away the thought. Why would he? He thinks I am reading in my room, which is not an unusual activity for me. In the morning, I will join him downstairs for a game of chess, and he will suspect nothing.
The Volturi has one main law; do not kill inconspicuously. Well, if this man, however charming he is, takes me out for a walk in the middle of the night, no one will be there to witness his death but me.
"I would love to." I smile.
