Chloe would not go to sleep. "I know I should but I don't want to have that dream again."
"About Vincent?" Felix guessed.
She nodded. "I see him coming after me, bleeding. He wants to smear his blood all over me so that I get infected." She sucked in a breath before adding, "Not that he would do that. I guess it's survivor's guilt or something."
"Dreams are weird that way," Felix said, though he did not really remember. He wished he did. His life he remembered in stark detail, but his dreams had blurred. He missed the vividity that his otherwise flawless memory could not seem to capture.
Chloe, fooled into believing Alec was asleep, asked, "What's the deal with him and rats?"
Felix shrugged. "No real reason. Just a weird phobia."
"It's not weird," Alec spoke up in defense. Chloe yipped, startled. "Rats are very harmful. They eat humans."
Felix burst out laughing. That, naturally, earned him a good numbing shock.
He missed whatever statement Chloe gave, but when he revived Alec was talking again.
"There used to be this punishment in the Middle Ages where they would put rats on the chest of the prisoner and set a cage over them. Then they would lay fiery coals over the cage. The rats would try to get away from the coals by chewing through the prisoner's body."
Felix's throat thickened at hearing that revelation. He was sure it was not some esoteric argument that was pulled up in the heat of the debate. It had more significance than that.
He knew, via Aro and the rest of the Volturi, that the Witch Twins' lives had not been full of pleasures as his own had been. He knew that Aro had rescued them after their town had almost burned them as witches. Now it seemed that their near demise at the hands of the ignorant townsfolk had only been the surface of the tortures they endured. Is it any wonder that they were so dour and untrusting? Felix thought with gravity.
"Did that really happen?" he asked Alec.
They glanced over, as if they had forgotten his presence.
"I didn't make it up," Alec answered steadily. His dark eyes warned against Felix inquiring further about it.
He had never meant for Felix to hear that.
To Chloe, well . . . he allowed that. She was an ignorant human; she would have no real understanding of it. And she was too insistent on defending her precious rats to connect his fact of a long ago injustice with her present day companions.
It would, he had vowed, the only time he would ever mention that terrible time. He had never talked about it with anyone, even Jane. Aro knew, of course, but there was no advantage for him to share his knowledge of it. Alec made sure of that by scrupulously attending to his duties.
Now Felix had heard some of the story, and he had no one to blame but himself. He was the one who cast the numbing spell that knocked Felix out; he should have made sure he stayed out.
Chloe's fatigue overcame her late in the night and she fell asleep. Her warm breaths blasted on Alec's skin, the rhythm calm and uninterrupted.
Felix was looking at him differently than usual. Before he treated Alec like a puzzle to tool around with in his spare time. He could not comprehend how anyone could live such a serious and (according to Felix) joyless life. Now part of the puzzle had been solved and it was not much fun anymore.
Finally Alec paced to him. "Give me the phone," he demanded. He was not asking permission.
"Huh?" Felix grunted. "What for?"
"Not your business." Though it was apparent he was going to call Jane. Who else was there?
Felix reached into his pocket and tossed the phone to Alec. Alec immediately whisked away, gaining as much distance from them as possible while he dialed.
Jane's spritelike voice answered. "Hey."
"It's me."
"I know," she said, grinning. He could almost hear her lips twitch upwards.
"Are you safe?"
"From everything except dying from boredom," she sighed. "They won't let anyone leave the city. You?"
"Safe enough," Alec averred. Strange that he felt like he was lying, when in the strictest sense he wasn't. "We hadn't encountered anyone since yesterday."
"What about food?" Jane asked, her voice raising, picking up on his unease.
Alec struggled to remain nonchalant. If she did not know about the wildlife dying off, he was not going to bring it up. "We have a back up meal," he told her. "That is, if Felix doesn't get too attached."
"Let me guess. A young fuckable woman."
Shock delayed his answer. She guessed the truth too accurately. Alec wondered what else she gleaned from him.
"Right."
"Typical."
Demitri murmured in the background, pleading for Jane to get back into bed. Alec's ears steamed at the words he overheard.
"Jane, were you . . ."
"Was I what, Brother?" she asked in her innocent tone.
"Were you . . . with Demitri when I called?" Alec finished.
Jane laughed giddily. "Yeah. That's the only part of this situation that's not boring."
He had never heard his sister like this before. Of course he knew she and Demitri were doing it; there were no surprises on that account. He was not that naive.
After seven hundred years, she was happy. He would never begrudge her that. But Jane's new behavior somehow disturbed him in a way he could not articulate.
"I didn't call about anything important," he apologized, suddenly aware that he was intruding. "We can talk later."
"Are you sure?" Jane kept her voice level, though Alec was sure she could not wait to get back to Demitri. "When I picked up the phone, I was sure something was wrong."
"There isn't," Alec quickly replied. "Nothing beyond the usual."
"Is Felix being an ass?" Jane tried to determine. "If he is, I can pain him."
"It's not him. I meant the disease and the Volturi being gone and everything."
She sighed more heavily. Great, he depressed her. Demitri would probably rip his innards out for that.
"I miss them too," she confessed. "None of it seems real. But things will get better once the disease goes away and the four of us can be together again."
She laughed again as Demitri tickled her.
"I've got to hang up," Alec fibbed. "I'll see you soon."
"Of course," Jane said. She sounded so sure. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Jane laughed as she clicked off.
Alec turned off the phone. He stared off in the unfamiliar valley ahead, trying not to think about how easily Jane moved on without him.
