Curiosity Killed The Cat
Chapter 10: Unexpected Truce
"I'm sorry," Jane murmured, stepping back when she saw the look on my face, "I didn't mean to frighten you,"
I had no words as I stared into her eyes, remembering with great detail the pain she inflicted on me without batting an eyelash. I could remember seeing her smile when I screamed in agony, she was more than enjoying herself as I writhed on the stone floor. She liked causing people pain, and, I guess, immortal creatures as well. But to see her, staring at me shyly from the other side of the roof... I honestly didn't know what to say to her.
"What are you doing here?" I finally found my voice after an awkward moment of silence.
She stepped forward, ignoring the way I stiffened in fright, but made no move to come closer.
"They started to worry when you hadn't shown up in hours. They thought you had tried to run off again so they instructed the guard to search for you," she didn't need to clarify who 'they' were.
I swallowed, "Okay... you found me... now what? Are you going to drag me back?" I was only half kidding.
She hesitantly began to approach me, gauging my reaction carefully as she inched closer, her little feet carrying her lithe body across the cold, dark rooftop, until she was right next to me. She swiftly sat down two feet away from my scared body, her legs dangling off the edge, like mine.
"I wanted to talk to you, about..." she trailed off, knowing she didn't need to finish. About her torturing me and enjoying it.
"Okay... so talk," I muttered, still not knowing whether to stay and listen to her, or run the fuck away. I decided to give her a chance, and listen to what she had to stay before making a hasty retreat, a decision I may very well end up regretting.
"For you to understand what I did to you and how I could be so..." she struggled to find the right word.
"Casual about it?" I offered.
"Sure," she shrugged before continuing on, "When we woke up to this vampire life, I discovered that I had a gift to create an illusion of pain on anyone of my choosing, and my brother, Alec, had the ability to cut off every sense you have." I blinked. Illusion? Was that seriously all that was? It most definitely didn't feel like a stupid illusion alright. I felt like I had been chucked in heel for a few minutes.
"I need to tell you about when my brother, Alec and I, were human and what had happened to us to make us this way. She took a deep, unneeded, breath before she told me her story of how she became a vampire.
"My brother and I grew up in a small village together in England around 800 A.D." She was... she was over a thousand years old? Damn. It wasn't as long as the vampire kings but still, it was definitely impressive considering she looked only to be fourteen.
"Our parents were kind and caring towards us... but the rest of the village, not so much. Even before we were transformed, we were still quite gifted. Bad things would happen to the people who were unkind to us, and good luck followed those who were friendly. Eventually, they found us too frightening and condemned us to be burned at the stake." My eyes widened in horror, but she kept going, "But as we were burning, Aro had found us and managed to bite us just in time, before he ordered the slaughtering of the entire village."
"So... Aro just happened to be in the area having a stroll?"
She laughed. It kinda sounded like little bells, which just intensified her creepiness. "No, he saw us through a nomad's thoughts who passed through our village. He saw the potential we had and visited us personally. He decided to wait until we were older to come back and change us, but once he heard we were going to be burned at the stake he came running and saved us just in time. I owe my life to him. So that's why I have little to no respect for humans," she sneered as her eyes glowed brighter from her discontent, "and they're no better today, always trying to outdo one another and blow everyone up."
"Can't argue with that," I mumbled half-heartedly, before something struck me as odd. "Wait, what do you mean Aro saw you through some guy's thoughts?"
She blinked in shock, "You mean you don't know about Aro's ability?"
"I didn't realize you had abilities in the first place," I grumbled. Why was there so much to know and remember about the undead?
"Aro can read anyone's thought just by a single touch." I froze. But... I remember him touching my hand after I had been thoroughly tortured by the witch bitch... er, Jane. Did that mean...?
"Any touch?"
"Every touch," she corrected, "He can't help it nor can he turn it off. He can see a few decades into your life with just a second of skin to skin contact,"
"But he's touched me... so he knows every embarrassing thought I've ever had... great. Do I even want to know what the rest of them do?" I asked, already dreading the answer.
"Marcus and see the bonds between people, emotionally and physically. Caius doesn't have a gift, much to his displeasure, but he's the best strategist the Volturi has." Jane explained. "You already know what my brother and I can do, and Demetri, one of our elite guard members is the best tracker in the world, he could find anyone he wanted in the world. His gift is very useless for tracking down vampires who are trying to escape punishment. Felix, who's also another elite guard member, has a massive amount of strength. Besides Aro, Caius, and Marcus, he is the best fighter we have."
"Is that all?" The sarcasm was heavy in my voice.
She laughed again, "Just to name a few. There are more, but I don't want to overwhelm you."
"Good instinct," I whispered as the chilly air passed through me, freezing me to the bone.
A few minutes passed in silence as we sat, lost in our own thoughts as we looked to the sky.
"I'm sorry," she suddenly blurted out, making me jump.
"What?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned her head and looked me in the eye. She mean it, that much I could tell.
"Truce?" I offered as I thrust my hand towards her.
She blinked, "Um..." before she smiled, revealing her scary ass teeth. She gently took my hand in hers and gave it a firm shake.
"Truce," she repeated, the smile still plastered firmly on her face.
"Good... cool," I said awkwardly as I released her hand, lowering it back down to my side.
Another silence fell between us as we ran out of things to say to each other. I didn't expect to come to an unexpected truce with her. She still scared me, and rightly so, but at least I didn't have to sneak past her whenever I saw her roaming the halls. I would most definitely not call ourselves 'best friends' or anything, thought we were no longer enemies either, but more of... mutual acquaintances.
Maybe one day I could see myself being friends with her, but just not today, or even tomorrow. It's just... too soon. At the very least I could tolerate her presence and not faint from panic, like I wanted to do a few minutes ago.
I was no fool, I knew if it wasn't for my status of being their mate, she would be more than happy to torture me to death before ripping apart my dead corpse and draining me dry. After being burned at the stake could leave someone very bitter from the experience, and I don't think having more than a thousand years to let that anger and bitterness fester and grow, helped any. I'd probably be the same way though, bitter and angry, but I doubted that I had the heart, or stomach, to torture someone to death just because they were part of the same species that tortured me.
That's probably why I could see myself forgiving them in such a short time, I just wasn't the sort of person to hold a grudge against somebody, especially accidents, unless it was a truly horrendous crime. Torturing me? That was nothing compared to what they could do... like murder my family. Then, then I would never forgive them and probably try to kill them. But they haven't and I seriously doubt they would try something like that if they wanted me to accept the fact that I was supposed to be with them for... a while, or maybe even ever.
I shook myself out of my thoughts before reaching for my phone, flinching when the bright screen hurt my eyes. It was well past midnight.
I shivered as the cold air wrapped around in like a blanket, only it sucked away all the warmth in my body instead of replenishing it. I flinched in shock when I felt something thick being laid on top of me. Jane had given me her cloak after she realized I was cold.
"Thank you," I murmured as I wrapped around myself tighter.
"Your welcome."
After a few more minutes, when I couldn't stand the cold anymore and my eyelids kept falling, I decided to go back to the castle.
"Well," I sighed, clumsily clambering to my feet, "I'm gonna go back to the castle before those three work themselves up in a panic," I almost laughed at the mental imagine of the vampire kings becoming faint because I didn't come home at my curfew. "You coming?" I asked out of politeness more than anything. I shrugged off her cloak, wincing when the cold air it me again, before handing it back to her.
"I think... I think I'll stay here for a while longer," Jane smiled at me before turning back to the sky, seemingly lost in her thoughts.
"Kay," I mumbled, as I rubbed my eyes, heading for the ladder, "Goodnight," I yawned already half asleep as I climbed off the building, and began to stumble my way through the streets and back to the castle, making sure to turn myself invisible, just to be on the safe side.
Seriously, how long had I been gone? I asked myself I stumbled my way through Volterra, finding the place I had stolen the woman's phone and put it back into the cupboard next to a sack of apples.
After finding the entrance I began to stumble down the even fucking colder hallway until I came across their throne room. Before I opened the door, I heard loud, muffled voices through the door. They seemed to be arguing, or having a loud discussion, as my mother liked to call it when her and father were fighting, with each other.
I slowly cracked the door open and saw Aro and Caius face to face, both looking pretty pissed off at each other, while Marcus was sitting at the table on the far right hand side of the room, pinching the bridge of his nose as his two brothers continued squabbling on. To be honest, Aro and Caius were close enough to kiss, much to my amusement.
"Wow, we haven't even been mated for a week and you're already cheating on me... with yourselves," I snorted in amusement as their heads whipped around to face me. The relief that crossed their faces made me think I was the cause of such a panic.
"Should I leave you two alone to have some privacy and pretend I didn't see this to thicken the plot?" I was tired, cold and cranky, yes I was going to be little sarcastic.
"Uh..." I mumbled as I was suddenly embraced by Aro, my face pressed into his rock hard chest. His cold, rock hard chest. Very cold.
"Oh Catalina, I thought you had run off again," Aro cooed as he released me, only to cradle my face in his hands. His cold, cold hands. Oh yeah, he can read my thoughts, can't he?
Bed. Please. Now. Tired. Need nap.
"Of course darling, you've had a long day," he murmured as he swept me up his arms, causing me to squeal in shock and wrap my arms around his neck so he wouldn't drop me. Then we were running.
The freezing air whipped past my face as he and his brothers gracefully ran through so many corridors it made my head spin, before coming across a set of oak doors. As soon as they opened I recognized the place I had woken up in this morning. Their room. Had it really only been this morning that I was ready to flee this dreaded place?
I glanced, longingly at the door that held the bathroom. I could really use a shower, but I was way too tired to clean myself; all I wanted to do was fall into the comfy bed and sleep for the next decade, maybe even two.
Aro carried me over to it, much to my relief, and let me fall in the softest bed I had ever touched. I felt them removing my shoes before the covers were pulled over me. As soon as my head hit one of the many pillows, I was out in seconds.
Another day down, another to come.
A/N: So, what do you think about Jane's talk with Cat? I decided not to make Jane an enemy to Cat, mostly because I feel like Cat deserves a break from all the drama, for a while at least, and let her have her time with the kings and bond with them a bit.
Let me know what you want to see happen next in your wonderful reviews guys, and thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter! They mean the world to me. :)
I will see you next time! Have a fantastic day guys!