Chapter Four: A Small Reunion

"Angels?" I scoffed, throwing my head back so hard that my skull bounced against the stone. I couldn't resist the urge to laugh. "There are plenty of demons here. Have you ever met an angel?"

He was silent for a second, and when he answered, he sounded more sure of himself than before, "Angels do not interact with humans as often as demons do. Besides, someone acting like a demon and an actual demon are different things. Audrey isn't a true demon. She's just an unnaturally cruel, but perfectly normal vampire. There isn't anything otherworldly about her."

"I think she could give a few demons some pointers," I huffed, folding my arms over my chest. Briefly, my eyes shifted to the door, half expecting Audrey to appear the second I said her name. I wondered what she did, when she wasn't down here. Was all of her time spent trying to think of ways to torture us and the other prisoners? Did she have some other, decent sort of hobby- something normal like reading or painting?

No, I decided rather quickly. Audrey could never find any joy in something as peaceful and expressive as art. The amount of happiness she got from watching us scream, could never be matched by something else.

"I can't argue with you there," He said, and I felt thrilled that we finally found something we agreed on. "Wonder how long it'll be before they send some of the others. Compared to Audrey, Tamsin is as tame as a rabbit."

"Tamsin's all emotional trauma." I rolled my eyes. Tamsin, a tiny ash-blonde thing who could turn into anyone at all (provided that the person she was imitating wasn't within a certain radius of her), loved turning into the friends and family of prisoners and torturing them under that guise. "She has nothing on me. How about you?"

"It works, a little bit," He admitted. I raised my brows.

"Who does she turn into?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"My sister, but she's only come once." He told me, and the thumping of rock smacking against the wall started up again. He had to have been just as bored as I was. "I knew it was her, but… it still hurt, to look back and see my sister staring at me."

"I'm sorry," I murmured, and meant it. "I had a brother, once."

"Once?"

"He died, years ago. I barely remember what he was like. I don't even know if we were close or not."

He let out a short, amused laugh, "Jane and I are. We've been inseparable since birth until…well, two weeks ago."

"What's she like?" I asked, before I could stop myself. Maybe it wasn't the kindest thing to ask about someone that he missed so much. I had forgotten how to miss a sibling long ago. Perhaps, if my brother had been made eternal with me, he and I would have been as close as Alec and his twin were.

"Jane?" He asked, and if judging from the tone of his voice was anything to go on, he didn't seem to be upset at me bringing her up, "Jane is different with me than she is with anyone else. With others she doesn't show a lot of emotion. She's…closed off. It's hard to make a connection with her. But between the two of us, it's…it was very affectionate. We were there for one another since birth."

"Where is she now?"

This time, he sounded uncertain, hesitant, "I… I don't know. In the castle, still. Maybe still working for Aro, or-"

"Wait. Working for Aro? I thought you hated Aro."

"I do. But my sister and I were on the guard for over a thousand years. I suppose we can consider this my unofficial termination of employment."

I felt my heart sink a little. I'd hated the Volturi ever since my rebirth as an immortal, and now, the only companion I had had been loyal to them for longer than I'd been alive.

"Oh. I guess it's lucky that my plan fell through."

"You sound upset," He observed. I pouted to myself, but didn't answer. I truly didn't know what I wanted to say. "Sao. Come on, we've been here together for a long time now. I think we can confide in one another to a certain extent."

"I thought you were like me," I answered, forcing the words that had rested like a brick in the back of my mind to come through my mouth. "A fighter. Someone against the Volturi…but you're not. You are them."

"Saoirse, I want you to listen to me." He said, and he suddenly sounded older than he had anytime before now. I tried to imagine his age, but I couldn't place it at all. "I was a part of the Volturi. I'm not going to deny that, but it did not and will not ever define me. I am not them. They are not me."

I let out a low whine. He was decent, but the Volturi were not, and I couldn't keep them separate in my mind.

"I know the sort of terrible things they've done, Alec." I murmured, drawing my knees up to my chest. "Did you do things like that?"

He did not hesitate to answer. "Yes. I have. I am not going to pretend that I've been a saint for the last ten centuries. I have done horrible things. Some of them I enjoyed. Some of them were too cruel for me to stomach."

"What about now?" I asked in a small voice, "Do you want to do terrible things now?"

"No. Not really. Unless you count ripping Audrey's tongue out of her throat."

I laughed. The subject of Audrey's hopefully gruesome demise was always something we agreed on. "I wouldn't mind if you tore her guts out and strung them across the walls like party garland."

"That would be a very interesting party." He replied, "What exactly would we be celebrating?"

I scoffed. That should have been obvious, but maybe not as much as I thought.

"Audrey's death, the fall of the Volturi….Aro's assassination. I think anything is worthy of a grand celebration."

"When Aro dies, I think the majority of the supernatural world will be having festivals in the streets."

"I mean, I know that there are some of us- like Audrey, for example, who just like to slaughter anything they can get their hands on. It makes the rest of us look bad, but I think Aro's taken a few things a bit too far."

Before he could answer, the sound that I had learned to dread filled the air- but it wasn't alone. Audrey's footsteps were coupled with another's that weren't familiar to me at all. Whoever was with her dragged her feet on the ground, where as Audrey walked with an almost overwhelming confidence.

"Alec…" She called, her tone playful. She passed right by me. In the back of my mind, I wondered why she always came to him first. "I brought a surprise for you."

"I'm not interested in your surprises, Audrey." He answered, voice dead. I sensed that he was tired of her games, just as I was. But she controlled when we played, or, rather, when she played with us.

"I think you'll like this one." Click of keys. The screeching of the door as it swung open, and a soft grunt. Audrey must have kicked whoever was with her into the cell.

"I..J-Jane?"

"I'm so sorry," The person answered. Her voice wasn't as high as I might have imagined. It was only a couple of octaves higher than his. Unless I concentrated, I could barely tell them apart. I wondered if she looked as much like him as she sounded. "Alec… I… I tr-tried to talk to Aro. To reconsider, but…"

"No. It's not your fault. Do whatever you have to do to stay safe. Promise me." He demanded. His voice shook, and it was muffled, as though he spoke into her shirt.

"Alec… I can't just stand around and do nothing." She whispered, her voice cracking just as his had. "They'll kill you before long. I… I can't let that happen."

I rested my back against the stone, listening to their conversation. Perhaps it was rude of me to eavesdrop, but after so long of him only having me to talk to, it was interesting to hear him interact with someone else.

"If it means staying safe and in Aro's good graces, then you're going to have to let it happen." He said, firmly. "I might very well become nothing but a memory one day."

"No. That isn't going to happen. Dammit, Alec. I'm not about to watch you die and continue to act like Aro's lapdog. I have more of a backbone than that."

Alec laughed, "Just stay safe. Don't go doing anything reckless."

"I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do, little brother." She chastised, and I imagined her lips curled into a playful smile. That had at least answered the question I had of which one was older. "Please just stay strong. Don't let her break you."

I was honestly shocked that Audrey hadn't broken in by now. I hadn't heard her leave, so she had to still be in there, watching them. How long would she allow him to have his few moments of bliss?

Audrey never did anything out of kindness. Any seemingly good act always had a catch to it.

"That won't take long," She said, her voice snake-like. "Jane, I think you've had enough time with him."

"It's only been a few minutes, Audrey," Jane hissed. Apparently she had never suffered Audrey's wrath, or perhaps Aro had made sure Audrey knew to leave her alone. "Let me have some time with my brother. It's been weeks since I've seen him."

"Aro allowed you five minutes. It's been far longer than that." Audrey snarled, but her voice wasn't the same vicious tone she used with us. Instead, it was more authoritarian. "I will make things a thousand times worse for him if you continue to disobey orders."

Jane breathed out a low sigh. "Leave us alone, Audrey. I do not care what the orders are."

"If that is what you wish," Audrey said, after a few seconds of dead silence. Her words sent a chill up my spine. Audrey did not go along with directions from anyone apart from Aro. "Five more minutes. That is all the leniency Aro or I are willing to give you."

"Very well," Jane answered.

"You're stubborn as usual." Alec said, his voice amused. Long ago, both of us had lost any desire we had to argue against Audrey's desires.

His sister snorted, "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not. I'm still in Aro's palm, for the most part. He's thinking of sending me to Bosnia next week."

"Alone?"

"No, with Demetri and Santiago. Felix is in South Africa. Some small coven is acting as the ruling class of vampires and ignoring the Volturi's rules. As far as we know, they have no significant powers."

My stomach churned. This was just how the Volturi worked. They took harmless acts and twisted them into something horrible.

"What's happening in Bosnia?" He inquired.

"Worse than South Africa," She answered, an edge to her voice now. Bitter, angry. "Two men are trying to build a harem of sex-slaves. Their changing girls and boys between ten and fourteen to add to their ring."

"That's disgusting." Alec hissed. "Are you going to execute the girls, too?"

Jane hesitated for a moment, "We will assess them. If they display a common understanding of the laws, then we'll consider giving them a reprieve."

"That's decent of you," He admitted, and it almost sounded as if he were teasing her. "In the past, you would have gotten rid of everyone you deemed to be a danger to our secret."

Jane sighed, "I said I would give them a chance. If one of them slips up, they aren't going to get a second chance. As pitiful as their beginnings are, we do have a secret to protect. We might be powerful, but humans outnumber us a million to one. We'd be slaughtered if our secret got out."

"I'm not questioning your methods, sister. It's just…different to see you even consider letting someone live. You aren't normally so…soft." His voice trailed off at the end. I imagined that he had to think for a moment, to come up with the right word.

"Yes, well," She began, her tone aloof, "Perhaps being without my brother has made me consider a few things. Besides, the moment Aro lets you out of here, I'll be right to my old self."

A laugh chimed through the air. Audrey's. I knew it like I knew my own foot steps, now. High and shrill and cold.

"I do not think you need to worry about Jane being herself when you get out of here, my darling," She hummed, "Let's not give anyone false hope."

Jane snarled, "Keep your hands off of him."

"Or what? You'll attack me?" She scoffed. "You know your powers have no effect on me. And I have zero confidence in your abilities to physically attack."

"I can do more than you think, Audrey. Keep. Your. Disgusting. Hands. Off. Him."

"Awww, that sounds like a challenge. Why don't you run along upstairs, little one. Be Aro's good little girl and I'll make sure your brother turns into exactly what Aro wants him to be."

My stomach churned, and I felt a wave of horror rush over my body. Alec let out a low whimper that sounded nearly like a sob.

Jane took a few steps, but not enough to have left. "Leave him alone. He's done nothing to you."

"You seem to think that I have something personal against your twin, Janie. I don't care what he's done or who he is… I am doing this for two simple reasons."

A strange sound filled the air, and it took me a second to determine where it had come from- then I realized, it was the sound a sword made when it was pulled out of a sheath. This, I supposed, was not an entire sword, but some kind of knife.

"I like power, and Aro has the most I can ask for at the moment,"

Something else filled the air, but this wasn't a sound. Instead, it was a smell. Gasoline. I cringed at the scent, backing up into the opposite corner of my cell.

"And…" Audrey finished, just before the screams started, "I like to watch people break."