Nikolai
There were many adjectives that I have heard others use to describe Alara. Our wet nurse called her mischievous. The other noble boys said she was scary. The other vampire girls in the Romanian coven used to call her a shrewd. But the words that I have heard used most was crazy. A crazy child. A crazy girl. A crazy bitch.
So when I happened upon the scene of Alara pulling the hair and clawing the neck of Jane Volturi, on one hand, I was surprised and then on the other I was not. It was Alara after all. Crazy Alara.
By the time the crowd grew to more than five, I was behind Alara trying to pull her away. A string of curse words escaped her mouth as I succeeded in pulling her away, but it wasn't until the calling of a surprisingly calm admonishment of the name Jane, that Alara was able to calm down.
"What is the meaning of this?" It was Caius, whose face held the emotion of shock mixed with disgust.
It was silent now, and it was then that I look away from my sister and looked over to Jane who was standing beside a boy, no older than I was.
"Master, the new one." Jane glanced at my sister. "Attacked me."
Alara laughed. "Really?" Then shook her head. "If you are going to use your power, at least have the balls to own up to what you did! She attacked me and then I attacked her. It was merely self-defense." My sister stepped forward and declared clearly as if she wasn't in a fight a minute ago.
It was then that my eyes met his since he was looking at me. I quickly diverted my eyes, mostly because of the embarrassment of the situation.
Aro spoke to Alara. "To the throne room." And the crowd seemingly diverged to let her stomp through. I moved to follow her as she followed Aro, Marcus, and Caius into the throne room.
"What happened?" I whispered to her, although I was sure everyone could easily hear.
"I already told you. She attacked me and I defended myself." Then she murmured something along the line of "that little bitch."
"You can't go around fighting people, Alara." I rebutted.
She glared at me. "What was I supposed to do? Stay there and let her torture me?"
"Walk away?" I offered.
She scoffed. "That's kinda hard to do when someone is mind-fucking your brain to think you are in the worst pain possible."
I knew that, but all I wanted to do was to offer another option, any other option apart from fighting one of the highest ranking Volturi. Alara was already on thin ice; I knew they wanted me and not her and I would rather her not give them a reason to rethink their agreement.
Alara looked a mess, her clothes were disheveled and hair disarrayed, yet her face showed no emotions. No regrets. No hurt.
When we got to the throne room, Aro began, " I thought we warned you not to upset us."
Alara smiled. "Are you upset?"
I stepped forward. Alara's temper always put her in bad situations and I could see clearly that this was a bad situation.
Despite this, Alara's face showed no fear, actually, her face showed no emotion, except a little smirk, that was so Alara-like. It was then that Aro spoke, "You have been here for just over a day and already you have managed to cause more trouble than we have ever experienced."
His voice was surprising very calm, so much so that it made me very worried. " I told you she was trouble." Caius jeered, causing Alara to glare at him.
"What shall we do with her?" Aro asked tapping his fingers on the arm of his throne.
"Well, if-" Alara started to speak up.
"You do not get to speak!" Caius reprimanded.
Alara seemed startled but easily recovered, "I thought he was asking a question", she murmured more to herself.
"Unfortunately, we need her alive," Marcus spoke up and I turned my gaze to him. Unfortunately.
"Do we?" Caius challenged, and it was then that I spoke up, "I will not have my sister harmed."
Aro smiled at me, "Of course not, Nicolae. I promise not to hurt your dear sister, remember. I keep my promises."
Alara scoffed, audibly.
Aro continued, "Nevertheless, your sister must be punished for her insolence and trouble-making tendencies. We cannot tolerate fights between our members."
"What about Jane, uh." Alara countered."Will she be punished?"
"You were the one who attacked her like a wild animal" Caius declared. "She used her power on me! Do you tolerate the use of powers to hurt other members?"
"Why are we even wasting our time arguing with her?" Caius countered.
Alara rolled her eyes. I stepped forward. "What if she apologizes to Jane and promises to never do such a thing again?"
"What?" Alara cried out and I turned to glare at her. I was trying to help her after all, but as always she was making it so hard.
"I will do no such thing." Alara countered.
Caius smirked. "You heard her. She has no wish to apologize."
"Why would I? I did nothing wrong." Alara glared at me as if I was betraying her. Maybe I was, but still, I was trying to help.
"No need." A voice entered the room and I turned to see Jane along with the boy who was with her earlier trailing behind her.
"She is right after all." Jane continued. "She did nothing wrong."
"What?" Alara countered, with a confused look on her face.
Jane stepped forward." I would like to apologize for my misbehavior earlier. I honestly meant no harm, but obviously, you took offense. Apparently, my sense of humor is not for everyone."
Alara scoffed. "Are you serious?"
Aro stood up. "How mature of you Jane." He came to pat Jane on her shoulder and Jane beamed at the affirmation.
From my observation so far, it was clear that Jane admired Aro to the point of it being a bit cultish. It was also clear that her apology was anything but genuine and Alara knew. He walked from the room, Marcus and Caius in tow, leaving the four of us alone.
We peered at each other for several seconds. Alara's hand crossed and face perplexed, before she broke the silence, " You conniving, little bitch."
A smile appeared on Jane's face before disappearing, and the sudden fluctuation of emotion was disturbing. She stepped forward, "I understand that you are having a hard time getting used to how things are around here but soon you will find your place. I'll even help you with that."
Alara was about a head taller than Jane and at first sight, the situation of Jane threatening her was almost laughable but still, the tension in the room was stifling.
"I doubt that. " Alara countered. "I've never had a good track record with rules or teacher's pets."
"Or maybe we'll just get rid of you sooner than later." Jane countered. I stepped forward, having the intent of pulling Alara away from the altercation but so did he. The boy behind Jane. Her brother. Alec.
"Let's just go." I resolved.
"Yes, you should listen to your brother."
Jane chimed. Alara shook her head and stepped more forward until she and Jane were mere inches apart and if the situation was different it could be interpreted as the brief moments before a kiss.
But I reached out as subtle as possible and held Alara's wrist. The next second, Alara retracted and dash from the hall. I was left there with them. The Witch Twins.
Nikolai gets much more interesting later on but please tell me your thoughts about anything so far!