Chapter 7. Newborn pain and rage.
It still surprises me to this day that Heidi and I became as good friends as we did after our rocky start. But still, my newborn thing had a big part of the rocky start. After I'd listened to Heidi's stories about her days as a newborn, I was amazed over how well I'd handled. But, of course, there was only a matter of time before my newborn side would show. And wow, did it show…
Two days after the training, I was incredibly thirsty, but I was at least thirsty in style. With the provided clothes from Heidi, I looked friggin' awesome. I'd started to experiment with my gift. After some good advice from Demitri (yeah, after Heidi and I became friends, somehow Demitri and I had clicked), I'd started to see energy everywhere. I saw it as multicolored dots in the air and on objects. Sometimes, the dots would transform into different shapes, like: dragons, wolves, unrecognizable faces and much, much more. Only recently had I tried to manipulate the energy in the air. Well, it had ended with a three-hour storm. I had only tried to make a breeze, so maybe I had used too much energy or something. I had only succeeded with one thing; to carry my voice on the energy dots to the person I wanted to hear it. The only problem was that when my voice reached the person, it was incredibly magnified. And with magnified, I mean so-loud-it-was-heard-all-the-way-to-the-town-square. That's not good. I at least could do something that wasn't copying someone else's gift. I suddenly heard a knock on my door.
"Come in!" I shouted.
Heidi entered. She was wearing another black dress, but this one didn't have any sleeves.
"Hi, Selena! Aro told me to tell you that you and Jane will train after feeding today." Heidi said.
"Jane? The little sadist that tortured me?" I said.
"Unfortunately yes. But I am impressed that you didn't scream when she tortured you. That really tore up some scars she had, since that Bella-girl wasn't affected by her gift" Heidi said and giggled a bit.
"Who's Bella?" I asked.
Heidi's facial expression changed a bit, telling me that this was a forbidden subject.
"I don't have time to talk, I should be out fishing! See you later!" She said and hurried out the door.
"That was strange…" I muttered to myself.
I lay down on the couch. It was so tiring, just doing nothing! I wanted to do something, but then again, if I just could wait until after the feeding, then I could kick some sadist-ass. Perfect. Lauren would've said:
"Come on! Lighten up and do something fun, for once. Please? For me?"
Then she would've done her irresistible puppy eyes. A stab of pain hit me in the stomach. I'd been a vampire for what? Barely a week? Well, but I hadn't thought of her once! I felt sick. She is my best friend! Was my best friend… I burst into tearless sobs as I thought how egoistic I'd been.
I just lay there, sobbing, until Demitri came into my room.
"Selena? Heidi's coming soon." He said.
I continued sobbing.
"I think she brought some juicies!" He said and sang the last word.
I still continued to sob.
"Urgh… You know, I am not going to miss dinner because of you. Seriously, come!" He said. This time it was an order.
I reluctantly stood up and walked over to him.
"What's happened? Is it Aro? You know, he's just a big baby, he's certainly already forgot it." He said whilst patting me on my shoulder.
"For a vampire, you're really caring." I said.
"Yes, but we all are. We protect our own. We are all brothers and sisters here. You can tell me anything, but be quick. Heidi will come in…" He paused for a second. "She will come in 10 minutes."
"Okay, here's the deal. I… I just thought about my best friend. I wonder how she is. How does she have it in Paris? Is her boyfriend still nice to her? I wonder all of these things, yet haven't I thought of her during my entire time as a vampire! I am so selfish!" I said and burst into new sobs.
"You know what? It is okay, but this is a conversation you should be having with Heidi. She knows more of the emotional stuff. But my opinion? Let her go. You will never see each other again, so you might as well accept that you can't be friends anymore." He said, completely serious.
"Okay, but I still want Heidi's opinion on this." I said.
"Fine. But I'm really thirsty, so follow me." He said and led the way to the feeding room.
Everyone was already gathered when we arrived. If I could blush, I would've.
"Heidi will arrive in 7 minutes." Demitri said.
"I can't wait for 7 minutes!" The buff vampire said.
"Shut it, Felix. She comes when she comes." Demitri said.
"Just because you and her are doing it!" Felix snapped.
Demitri snarled and threw himself at Felix. I snapped. I could not handle more violence today.
"No!" I screamed.
An iridescent barrier formed between the two vampires. When Demitri hit the barrier, he was thrown back into the wall behind me. Every vampire in the room gaped at me. Well, everyone except for Jane, her brother (I think) and the masters. The silence was broken by Felix.
"Hey girl! That was pretty awesome!" He said and winked.
Oh hell no! Was he flirting with me? Hell no, again!
"Thanks, but I have no idea how I did it." I said and smiled an innocent smile.
"Let's not dwell on such matters as these. It's her gift that created the barrier." Aro said and smiled kindly at me.
This was weird.
"I agree. All of us are thirsty, so all of you; shut up and wait for Heidi." The blonde-haired master said.
Oh, what was his name? Caius! And the bored one was Marcus! Heidi had mentioned the masters briefly, as if I knew them already. Well, I didn't. Everyone stayed silent for another 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, we could hear the tapping of Heidi's heels and the stomping of the tourist's walking shoes. The saliva thingy came again, but this time I knew it was venom. The properties of venom remained unknown to me, but at least I knew what it was. I was glad that Heidi had told me that. The big doors opened and Heidi appeared with a bunch of tourists. The tourists laughed and look pictures. There were even some children among the group. The tourists seemed to be baffled by all of us, just standing there.
"And here is the throne room." Heidi said.
She let the tourists enter while she closed the door behind them.
"My dear friends, welcome to Volterra!" Aro said.
Urgh, was that his catchphrase or what? This time, I was the first to plunge into the crowd. I'd grabbed onto a big, fat guy with a Hawaii-shirt. Stereotypical or what? I bit down on his neck and hurried to suck up all the blood. When I was done, I threw myself at a boy in his late teens. He was empty before I was satisfied. I threw myself at a woman in her early twenties. A woman who looked eerily alike Lauren… She screamed and tried to get away, but I was too strong.
"Lauren?" I whispered.
"Who are you? What do you want?" She screamed.
A flash of recognition showed in her eyes.
"Selena? But you are missing! And my Selena doesn't kill people!" She screamed.
"Oh, Lauren… How I've missed you!" I said and leaned in for a hug.
" Get away from me, freak!" She screamed and tried again to get away, but failed again.
"It's me!" I said.
"No… No, it can't be!" She said and shook her head.
I felt everyone's eyes staring at me.
"What are you waiting for? Drink, or someone else will." Caius said.
"She… She is… She was my best friend." I said and looked at Lauren.
"Oh. But my dear, she can't know. She must die. Unless you will turn her?" Aro said.
I remembered the pain of being turned.
"No! But… Can't someone else kill her? Please? If it is the only option." I said, with my voice almost failing me.
Aro approached me.
"I can, my child. I am so sorry." He said and motioned for me to move.
Before I moved, I leaned in to Aro.
"Touch her. I want to know why she was here. Please?" I whispered.
Aro nodded. I moved away from Lauren and closed my eyes. I could hear her screams, but they were quickly over.
"It is over." Heidi whispered.
I sobbed and turned around to hug her. She hesitated at first, but then hugged me back.
"Let's leave." She whispered.
"Okay." I whispered back, trying to stop sobbing.
We went back to my room where we sat on the couch. We sat silent for a moment, then Heidi spoke up.
"What happened in there?" She said.
"She was my best friend. We'd known each other since pre-school! We'd laughed and cried together. I still remember, even though it's blurry, when we went to summer camp when we were 13. I've never had so much fun in my life. And now… And now she's gone! Do you know how that feels?" I screamed.
"Yes. You'd be amazed over how many people you can lose in 3000 years. So yes, I know far too well how it feels. But you have to get over it, otherwise you can't live. You've already killed many in your vampire life, have you thought about them? No, you haven't. Why? Because you don't know them. They are humans, your food. Do you think of the pigs you've eaten as a human? That's a 'no' to that too. Learn to live with death, because you are death now." She said.
Well, she had a point. I just have to stuff all sorrow into a box, lock it and destroy the key.
"Thank you. So, where am I training with Jane?" I said.
"Same place where you trained with me. Good luck. Now go kick some sadist-ass!" Heidi said and ran out of the room.
I went to the training room, where Jane and (probably) her brother was waiting.
"Hello. I am Jane. This is my brother, Alec. We will train your gift. You will go through pain and nothing to succeed. As you already know, I can make people think that they're burning." She said in her dead voice.
"And I can make people feel nothing. When exposed to my gift, you can't see, hear, taste, feel or smell. We will train you as Aro instructed. You will learn things similar to our gifts." Alec said in an equally dead voice.
"And to protect yourself against our gifts. Are you ready?" Jane said.
"Yes." I said, adding "little sadist" in my head.
Then I was burning again.
"Now you burn. I want you to feel every flame. I want you to become the fire. Harness it's energy and try to send over the pain to either one of us." Jane said and smiled mockingly.
That little bitch didn't think that I could do it. She would see how wrong she was.
I did as she said. I felt every, painful flame. I became the fire. The hardest part was to harness the "fire". I imagined the flames as little dots of energy and I pointed all of those dots at Jane. Well, it was hard. I mean, try to focus when you're burning. I went kinda good. Well, instead of giving her the illusion of burning, I actually set her on fire. She started to scream. I didn't want Aro to get mad at me, so I tried to think of water and point the water dots of energy towards her. And it worked. She stood in front of me, soaking wet, sarcastically clapping her hands.
"I think that your gift amplifies the energy it manipulates. Well, good job. Now it's Alec's turn" Jane said.
"Okay, Selena. I want you to try to get your senses back. Try to turn the energy back on in your senses. If you succeed, then good. If not, then you will be nothing for 2 hours. Good luck. Or not." He said.
Then there was nothing. It was like I was floating in darkness. It was unbelievably scary. I tried to sense the energy in my body. There was no colorful dots, only vaguely glowing dots. I tried to light the dots, but failed. What should I do? Then I remembered. Alec said that I should try to "turn the energy on". Maybe I should think of the dots as light bulbs, then I only needed to find the "on"-switch. I realized that I saw my body (the dots) from a third-person perspective. Great. I saw a gathering of glowing dots in my head. I focused on them and tried to disperse the energy throughout the other dots. First came taste, I could taste the dryness of my mouth. Then came smell, I smelled the sweet scent of vampire. Soon after came feel, I felt my feet on the ground, my hair in my face and the clothes on my body. After a while came hearing. I could hear the twins talking about Aro's fascination with me. Last, but not least, came sight. I saw the twins standing close together.
"Hello? I'm back!" I said triumphantly.
They gaped. It was a pleasant sight to see the sadists (Alec was one, I was certain) so confused.
"What..?" Alec said.
"I'm out of your spell? Well, are we done?" I said.
"You need to come with us to Aro. To report of your… progress."Jane said, her pride obviously hurt.
We walked to the masters together. When we came in, a young, vampire man kneeled before Aro.
"So will you join?" Aro said.
"Yes, master." The vampire said.
"Oh. Hello, my dears. Are you done?" Aro said.
"Yes, master. Take Selena's hand. She has made progress." Jane said, saying my name as if it were poison.
I walked up to Aro. I stood next to the kneeling vampire and I let Aro take my hand. He smiled.
"How great! Hmm… Amplifying… Yes, that needs to be controlled. My dear, please escort this vampire, Frantz, to Heidi. She has his things." Aro said.
I nodded and took Frantz's hand. Without even trying, I read his mind. It was not a pleasant sight. He was a shield, which meant that he could block out some of his thoughts. But the blockade didn't work with me, since my gift amplify energy as well as manipulates it. Frantz was an infiltrator from a secret organization called "Il Nero Rosa".
"Traitor!" I yelled as I ripped off his head and set him on fire, using the technique I learned with Jane.
"What are you doing, child?" Caius yelled.
"I am sorry, master. But he was an infiltrator from the organization 'Il Nero Rosa'. I could not let him live. I have lost one friend today, it will not be more." I said and bowed.
"My dear, I did not see that." Aro said.
"He had a partial shield around his thoughts. Because my energy manipulation and amplification, I could see through the shield. I didn't want to read his mind, but my gift acted on its own. I am sorry." I said.
"Not to worry. You eliminated a threat against us. We are grateful. Go to your room and train on your own. You need to learn control and just pure energy manipulation. Jane, Alec, you leave too." Aro said and made a dismissive gesture with his hand.
The anger radiated off of Jane, whilst Alec was more controlled. I went into my room and continued to manipulate dots.
A/N:
Sorry for not updating. As an excuse, please accept a longer chapter.
I love you, my readers!
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.