Chapter 10 Ignorance is Bliss

Selene couldn't believe what she had just heard. From the expressions on their faces, nor could Kraven or Kahn. It was clear that they were just as shocked as she was. Amelia was requesting that they awaken Viktor and this very fact terrified Selene to her core….

Since Selene could remember, since before she, herself, had been turned into a vampire, the Ancient Coven had been hierarchically structured in such that the three elders: Markus, Amelia, and Viktor, would not rule the coven all at one time. Struggles for control of the coven had been heard in tales regarding days of old and the deep desire within each elder to rule alone, prevailed. To preserve the balance of power, to preserve their bodily corpse, it was agreed: one was to rule as the two remaining rested. That's the way it had been for centuries over centuries. The chain unbroken, unaltered, unquestioned, until now….

"My lady," Kraven stepped forward, it was clear that he couldn't believe what Amelia had just said, "Viktor isn't to be awakened for another century…"

Amelia turned and slapped Kraven with such force that he lopsided to the ground.

"Your incompetence could be seen as a lack of loyalty, in which I would personally deliver the punishment, myself, Kraven…" Amelia snarled at the pathetic vampire on the ground, cowering from fear.

"Selene," Amelia began, turning to her, "you will awaken Viktor…"

Amelia's eyes were softer when she looked up at Selene, but it didn't change the terror Selene felt inside. She nodded and walked out of the chamber with a sense of uneasiness.

Selene hadn't given it a second thought in Volterra what the consequences of bringing the creatures back to the Coven were. She never thought that it would cause the uproar to the extent that it has. She was expected to awaken Viktor a hundred years before his time and she knew his temper. He will not be pleased to find Amelia amongst the Coven at his awakening…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bella sat down in her usual seat, next to Edward. His face was turned to the window; he hadn't noticed her sit down. She quickly opened her notebook and waited a few moments before she summoned the courage to ask: "Are you alright?"

Edward turned to face her; he had a pained expression and just by looking at him, Bella felt sorry for him, despite not knowing what it was that bothered him.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Edward forced out.

"Well, you don't look fine…" Bella insisted. She felt that the dinner date had caused a sort of connecting between the two of them, a connection of friendship, if anything. She just wanted to find out what was bothering him because he looked ghastly pale and he had dark bags under his eyes, far more purple than humanly possible—he looked like a ghost.

"I'm just thinking …" Edward finally admitted, still looking out the window.

"What about?" Bella hoped that she wasn't sounding too persistent.

"Alice…" Edward admitted, saying her name stung. He hadn't heard from her or Carlisle and their stay in Volterra had lasted much longer than Carlisle had originally predicted. Suddenly, a cell phone ring tone went off quietly and Edward reached into his pocket, pulled out the device and answered, despite being in class—even though the teacher hadn't walked in from lunch yet.

The gesture surprised Bella but what surprised her even more is that he didn't pick up with a normal "hello." In fact, he hadn't said a word when he picked up the call. She watched as he seemed to be listening to whoever was on the other end and in the following moments, his facial expressions changed drastically. At first, he looked worried but slowly his face contorted in anger.

In one swift move, he stood up so fast that it shocked Bella, for she hadn't ever seen anyone move as fast as he did in that moment. He was out of the classroom before she could even begin her phrase: "Where are you going…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alice opened her eyes slowly and found that her vision was blurry. Her head was pounding with such a pain that she didn't know what was going on. Fear overwhelmed her, a sensation that she hadn't felt in a very long time.

"Jane…" Alice whispered, feeling around. The floor was damp and cold and it scared her even more that she didn't know where she was or why she was this way. She didn't understand—never as being a vampire had she ever lost her vision. Never as a vampire had she had such a pain throbbing in her head. Was she dead?

"Don't be alarmed, your friend will wake up shortly…"

Alice didn't recognize the voice and she couldn't tell if he was talking to her. She couldn't even see who he was. She couldn't see anything at all and she began to shudder uncontrollably from fear.

"Who..are you…" Alice said in between shudders. Tears were flowing down her face, she could feel them. At least she hadn't lost all of her senses.

"Your vision should return in a few moments, try and relax."

Alice closed her eyes and allowed the tears to stream down. She couldn't relax; she was in such a state of shock, feeling such a state of fear that her body was convulsing. She wanted to go home; she wanted to find Jane and simply go home.

"Please," Alice began crying, "Please just let us go…"

"Alice?"

A small wave of relief filled Alice, Jane was there with her—the stranger hadn't entirely lied. Alice began desperately searching with her hands.

"Jane!...Where are you?" Alice was crawling on her hands and knees toward the direction she had heard Jane speak. Her voice was faint thus leaving her position ambiguous.

"Al-lice" Jane stuttered but the sound was enough to point Alice in a general direction and she quickened her crawl.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked, she just needed Jane to keep talking. Wherever they were, it was large enough so that Alice had to continuously crawl on her hands and knees, feeling around for Jane.

"I can't see, Alice….I can't see!!" Jane sounded hysterical and Alice couldn't stop the tears from streaming down. She didn't know how they got to where they were, she didn't understand what was going on, confusion was filling her mind and above it all, Jane wasn't remaining calm.

"I know, hun," Alice said in an attempt to calm Jane. Jane's voice was so close and Alice took large strides on her knees, stretching out her arms for anything. She felt a wall, damp and dirty. Under normal circumstances, It would have grossed Alice out to touch something so dirty but she was too overwhelmed with emotions to care about filth.

Suddenly Alice felt a hand on her. The grasp was strong—she was being pulled away from the direction she was headed. Alice realized that she was being pulled away from Jane. She tried to fight it but the grasp was too strong. She felt multiple hands grasp her, there was more than one. Terror filled her; she tried to fight, to resist, with all her might. She tried to maneuver out of the grasps, she tried to do anything but they were too strong. She couldn't shake them…

"ALICE!"

She could hear Jane screaming her name and it caused a natural adrenaline urge within Alice. She tried to get out of the hands' grasp, blind still and unable to see where she was going. Tears were streaming down her face, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS." Alice screamed, sobbing while attempting to resist.

"You needn't distress yourself, we will not hurt you."

A voice she didn't recognize was coming from a being she couldn't see while in a location she was unaware of. Confusion and anger, terror and fear, longing and sadness, filled the entirety of Alice and she could hear Jane screaming in the distance. They had got to her darling Jane.

"ALICE…"

It was the last thing she heard.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Selene walked in through the large doors in to Viktor's chamber and tilted her head back in remembrance. She closed her eyes as the memories flooded her mind, memories of when Viktor was the ruling elder. Memories dating over a century prior to that moment and yet, walking into the chamber she felt a sense of déjà vu. As if the years of immortality blurred together and it had only been yesterday when she would have walked in to the chamber to find Viktor and the council members discussing matters of importance. Viktor would always gesture for Selene to stand by his side and he would often whisper in her ear personal statements regarding the council. Tears were forming from the memories and Selene opened her eyes to look at the empty chamber.

The chamber had remained unchanged, physically. It was emotional just standing in the room. She had too many fond memories of her mentor, sitting upon the throne, discussing anything and everything with her. How she missed him…

She looked on the ground at the three large circles and eyed the one with the letter V scribed on it in gothic lettering. She learned down and pressed the selective spaces on the circle until it made a noise and the circle slid away revealing the top of a casket. She backed away as the casket slowly raised itself from the ground and it took several moments before it was positioned in such a way that she could begin the awakening ceremony.

The casket was dark mahogany wood and Viktor's emblem marked in Gold, glowed in the center. Her dearest Viktor's bodily corps lay shriveled within. She would need to revive him with blood and aid in his rejuvenation. Excitement began to fill her—she was finally to be reunited with him, once again. She scolded herself as to why earlier she had been so terrified at the prospect of awakening Viktor, even if it was on behalf of Amelie.

Selene moved her wrist to her mouth and paused in hesitation for a moment to simply absorb everything that had happened within the past several days. So much has happened, so many memories. Of course, Viktor would see them all, all of the memories she had experienced, all the visions and all of the emotions experienced by Selene. It was all within her blood, permanent record of everything that she had done and by awakening him, by utilizing her own blood for him, he would have access to it all.

She had nothing to hide from Viktor and Selene bit in to her wrists, allowing her fangs to deeply penetrate her skin. The blood poured out uncontrollably and she moved her wrist to the pipe located on the side of the casket. The pipe carried Selene's blood all the way to the opening of Viktor's dried mouth, where it ventured in and began rejuvenating his bodily functions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------