Lights pop in front of my eyes as I groggily push myself up from the cold ground. When the lights fade, I find myself in a dark, dank space. The stone walls are inlaid with tiny metal rungs and the floor is bare. Light filters in through the bars in the metal door and my throat constricts with horror when I turn the handle and find it locked. I pull at the grooves between the door and the frame, but my nails just claw at the metal with a screech of steel on steel. I take a deep breath in an effort to calm my rapid heart beat and then I ignite a ball of fire between my hands. I step back and then I launch the flame at the door. It barely even rattles the frame and the fire quickly burns out, leaving a splattered scorch mark in its wake.
I hear laughter from the corridor, a cruel, mocking sound. "It's reinforced steel, you'll never burn through it."
"Morgan, is that you? What's going on?"
"The end of Voltaire, that's what." I hear a heavy key turn in the lock. "Unless you want to rot in this cell, you better get back."
I stand resolutely behind the door as Morgan's face appears at the window, his dark hair is messed up and there's a cut on his lip. "I mean it, Roma, any funny business and I'll leave you here."
Maybe it's his use of my first name that resonates with me, but something inside of me tells me to co-operate and I find myself scuttling back to the wall, pressing myself against it as my hands tingle with the flames threatening to erupt from them.
Morgan edges around the door just as I produce another ball of flame between my hands. Suddenly, there's a tightness around my throat and I cant breathe.
"Put the fire out, or I'll kill you right now."
I extinguish the flames and I claw at my neck. The tightness eases and I fall to my knees gasping for breath. "What was that?"
"Just a little power I picked up."
I shake my head "That's not possible, your not strong enough."
"Typical Volturi," Morgan spits. "You think you're better than everyone." Morgan advances on me, holding a hand out in front of him, warning me that he has the power to cut off my air supply again.
"Why are you doing this? Where am I?"
"You're at the Gazini household. I brought you here after the attack at school."
I climb unsteadily to my feet. Why?"
Morgan cocks his head to one side. "You should be thanking me you know, I could've left you there, let one of the clan members drag you off to their hovel."
"So why didn't you? I can take care of myself."
Morgan laughs. "You think so? You have no idea how much the clans hate Volturi's and in answer to your question, I brought you here because I figured you might be useful."
I try to hone in on his feelings, trying to grasp what all of this means.
Morgan sneers as he realises that I have no idea what he's alluding to. "You're a hostage, Roma. My father made me personally responsible for you," His eyes travel from my face down to my bare legs and back again. My stomach lurches. "We're starting a war, the Gazini's are going to take the throne with the help of the clans. We've taken Volturi, Denali and Cullen children as hostages, if your father doesn't surrender the throne, we'll kill them all."
I grip the wall behind me for support. "The attack on the school."
He nods.
"Morgan you can't. Surely you don't agree with that. They're just kids."
He shrugs indifferently. "If your father chooses to surrender, no one gets hurt. If he doesn't, he's the one who will have blood on his hands."
My stomach pitches. "Morgan, please let them go. I've known you my whole life-"
"Yeah and you've always looked down on me, always acted like you were too good for me."
"That's not true, you're the one who's always giving me a hard time, but this...this is just evil."
Anger flashes across his eyes. "You know, I was going to let you out of here, give you a room in my own quarters, but you can stay here until you learn to be a little nicer to me."
Morgan slips out of the door and slams it shut. I launch a ball of fire as he turns the key in the lock. His face appears between the bars, his green eyes narrowed. "I'll be back in an hour, if you can't control yourself, I'll have you shackled to the wall."
As the echo of his footsteps fades, I slump down on to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. I feel helpless, incapable of doing anything to help myself or the children. My only way of getting out of this cell is to be friendly to Morgan, make him believe that I'm not going to cause any trouble. Maybe then I'll be able to find out what's going on. I think of Ogon, my parents, Ivy and...Nicholas. What happened to them? I have to know. When Morgan returns I have a plan.
He peers through the door before turning the key in the lock. I stay sitting down in effort to appear defeated.
"So, are you ready to co-operate?"
I nod timidly.
Morgan grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet. "Good." He leans towards me and before I know what's happening his lips are on mine and my face is grasped in his hand as his tongue invades my mouth. I stay still as Morgan pulls away and leers at me. "You're making the right decision, Roma. I'm the only one who can guarantee your safety."
He leads me out of the cell and along a dimly lit corridor. We climb a stone staircase and emerge in a long, cavernous room lined with shelves of books. Ezekiel Gazini sits at a long, polished table sipping from a goblet.
"Ah, the Volturi princess." He sneers.
I turn to Morgan. "I thought you said there was going to be a war, that the Gazini's were taking the throne."
"We are taking the throne," Ezekiel says. "My household and the clans are invading your home as we speak. When your family are captured, I'll claim my seat as King of Voltaire."
Panic grips my chest. "You coward."
Ezekiel stares at me coldly and then his eyes flicker to Morgan. "Control your hostage." Morgan strikes me across the face making my cheek sting.
I swallow down the tears that threaten to fall. "Where are the children?"
"They're here, all safe and well. For now."
Ezekiel regards me with curiosity. "Sit down, Roma."
Morgan forces me into a chair opposite his father.
"When you were born, the bells of Voltaire rang for days. The doctors said you were the strongest baby they had ever seen, already showing an aptitude for the gifts you would develop later on. Your father was so proud." Ezekiel's lip twists into a sneer as he swirls the contents of his goblet. "As you grew your powers grew. You knew what people around you were going to say before they said it, you could make object fly around the room without even knowing it. I saw it for myself."
I narrow my eyes at him. "That's not true, I barely have any power at all, except for producing fire and that's not even a common gift for our kind."
"Yes, you were never the same after your accident."
"What accident?"
Ezekiel watches me as he sips from his goblet, a trail of blood dribbles down his chin and he wipes it away with the back of his hand. "Did you know there used to be a pond in your garden? A beautiful water feature with carp of all colours and swans too. One day your mother found you floating face down on the surface, she pulled you from the water, but you had already stopped breathing. You were four years old."
I try to think back to when I used to play in the garden as a child, but I don't remember there being a pond. I try to concentrate and suddenly an image springs to mind, a memory, ragged at the edges like an old photograph. A swan, it's snowy white feathers against the vivid green of our grounds.
Ezekiel smiles coldly. "You remember?"
"I remember...swans."
"Well, after that day, the pond was drained and filled with earth, the swans relocated. You were OK of course, you are a vampire after all, but Voltarian vampires can't breathe underwater. The lack of oxygen caused damage to your body, you lost all of your powers."
"No, that can't be true. My parents would've told me."
Ezekiel shakes his head. "Your family are liars, they kept the truth from you because they were ashamed that they couldn't take care of you."
I think of my brother, Ogon, always so protective.
"Ah yes, Ogon."
I look at Ezekiel curiously.
"That's right, I can read your mind," He puts the goblet down and clasps his hands together. "Did you know that the Denali's developed a way to extract power from one vampire and give it to another?"
I shake my head.
"It's in our blood. Your father banned it of course, said it could be dangerous in the wrong hands." Ezekiel smiles slyly. "I think it just levelled the playing fields."