Chapter 10 – A New Journey.

It stopped as suddenly as it had started. Silence, alive with things unsaid, pressed down on me as I three pairs of ruby red eyes stared at me.

"What was that?" Alec shivered as he rose to his feet, shifting his feet in agitation. "I thought you said nothing could hurt us anymore!" He glared at the other two vampires in accusation.

Lord Aro and Philippe ignored him, keeping their eyes fastened on me. I saw a shadow of respect in Philippe's eyes as his mouth broadened into a smile. "Well, well, well…little wildcat indeed."

Aro's smile was blinding. "But it's marvellous! If we can harness that, control it…imagine the possibilities. You have outdone yourself Philippe."

I shook my head, confused and afraid, unaccountably tired after that extraordinary outpouring of rage. "I didn't do anything…Alec, I don't know what happened."

He shook his head. "It hurt," he said simply. "Everything, everywhere…like the burning, only different, worse."

Astounded I could only gaze at him blankly. How could anything be worse than that? And how could I have caused that?

But then I remembered how the power had felt, the way I had hurled it out of my body with nothing but a burning will to hurt someone, and I began to understand.

Alec came and stood by my side, looking at Aro and Philippe with a calm I certainly didn't share. "Please," he said with a sigh. "There is more to this than you have said thus far. Please, just tell us what you want from us."

"We wish to take you home with us," Aro said kindly. "It is a wondrous thing you have become, but there are rules and things you must know before you can be permitted to make your own way. Philippe and I are part of the Volturi, the highest vampire coven in the world. We have wealth and power and knowledge beyond your dreams, and we would very much like for you to accompany us back to our home in Volterra. There you will meet many others of our kind, and you will be able to avail yourself of every comfort and luxury as you learn. After that, if you wish, you will be free to leave. Although, who knows? Pehaps Volterra will be to your liking and you will choose to remain with us."

I didn't trust him. Not one little bit. But what he was offering had appeal, and the alternative was a bewildering and confusing time as Alec and I tried to make our own way and learn about what we had become.

"We need to talk about it," I said abruptly, just before Alec could nod his head and agree with their proposal.

There was a quick flash of displeasure across Lord Aro's face, but he smoothed it away almost instantly, and bowed his head. "Of course. Philippe?"

I had wanted to go outside and talk to Alec away from the two vampires, but they were quicker than me and were out the door before I could move. I shrugged, and moved across to the window.

"Look at that!"

Everything I had intended to say vanished in the face of my astonishment as I saw Lord Aro and Philippe standing in the yard in the late afternoon sunlight. Their skin reflected the light in a thousand different crystals and rainbows…I had never seen anything so beautiful.

Alec drew in his breath sharply, and then leaned through the window opening, holding his bare arm out into the sunlight, and immediately the same luminous beauty was apparent on his skin. "It's the same…it must be something to do with being a vampire."

I scowled. "We really do need to learn about what we are now, don't we? I hadn't even heard the word until today."

"It does seem like they have things that they could teach us," Alec said carefully. "What you did before was fearsome, Janey. I know you didn't mean it, but that almost makes it more frightening."

"I don't trust them," I said sullenly. "I don't trust anyone but you."

"I don't trust them either," Alec admitted. "At the same time- if they meant us harm wouldn't they have done something by now? They saved us from the fire when they simply could have let us die. That must mean something. And they said if we go with them to this Volterra we'll meet others like us and maybe there will be somewhere we can belong. We can leave whenever we want too, so we can go and see what we can learn, and then if we don't like it we can go off by ourselves like always."

I saw the sense in what he was saying. There was also a big part of me that wanted to go. These red-eyed vampires, as terrifying as they were, fascinated me. And the idea of riches and luxury beyond imagining was a seductive one for someone who had always lived as I had. To think of being in a place grander than the manor house I stood in, the finest house in the village…I could not even envision it.

"We'll accompany them to this place they were talking of," I said at last. "But if we don't like it, if either of us doesn't like it, we'll leave. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Alec answered solemnly, and the two of us slapped palms.

"Splendid!"

I took a step backwards as Aro seemed to magically appear beside me. He took my hand as if to steady me, and smiled at me indulgently. "My dears, I couldn't be happier that you've decided to come with us for a visit! I'm sure you will find Volterra to your liking. It's a delightful city and our accommodations will surely be quite a revelation to you after the dwellings you've been accustomed to." He looked around him with distaste. "Even the lowest dungeon in Volterra is far superior to this hovel."

It was hard to comprehend. All I had known in my life was our little hut, the forest around it, and the village. I knew there were far distant cities where people lived crowded like rabbits in a burrow, and castles where kings ate meat every day and the knights wore armour and rode warhorses in tournaments, but that bore almost no relevance to my life at all.

"You will see all that and more, sweetling," Lord Aro said softly, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "You have been given the sacred gift, and that gives you the world."

"Where is Volterra?" Alec asked, a little uncertainly. "Is it far? Do you need a horse?"

Philippe chuckled. "Further than you've ever been my friend!"

"Tuscany," Aro said patiently. "The seat of the Romans and all their power is now the province of the Volturi and it is from there that we guide the vampire world."

"Tuscany." The word was unfamiliar, and seeing the blank expression on my face Aro sighed and shook his head.

"Over a hundred miles to the north of Rome, although I suppose you've never even seen a map. We have beautiful maps in my library in Volterra, wonderful illuminations and engravings…perhaps you shall enjoy looking at them in time. After you've washed, of course," he added hastily.

Philippe grinned. "There'll be many things to interest and entertain you at Volterra! And I for one vote that we get moving now, rather than waste any more time here." He nudged Alec towards the door. "Come on friends, come outside and you'll learn why it is you don't need a horse."

"What about…them?" Alec indicated the bodies still slumped on the table. "Shouldn't we bury them?"

Aro looked nonplussed. "To what end? What does it matter? We have means to dispose of bodies in Volterra, but in this grubby little backwater I should not think it make any difference."

Philippe looked indifferently across the room at the corpses. "I'll bury a human once I'm done with them if I want to hide them," he offered. "But there's no one left in the village for it to matter, and they'll be little but bones by the time anyone should happen along this way. Come, let's leave this place. I have spent far more time than I would like here."

The sun was beginning to drop down behind the trees when we went out to the yard. The shimmer and glow of our vampire skin was less obvious in the fading light but still there, and I smiled at Alex as I moved my bare arms and watched the sparkle.

"It's so sharp," Alec murmured. "All my senses…is it that way for you? I can smell everything, and see everything, and hear everything." He crouched down and traced his fingers through the dirt of the yard, a look of wonder on his face.

Ignoring Aro and Philippe standing somewhat impatiently at the edge of the forest, I knelt beside Alec. "You can hear it? All the creatures?"

"And smell them," he whispered. "I bet that's the rabbits on the eastern hill. And the river, can you smell the river?"

I could. The water, the earth, trees and creatures…half of me longed to simply return to our home, to the small, familiar hut in the forest I had been intimately acquainted with since babyhood. Did I really want to go somewhere far away from all that I knew?

But in amongst all the other scents was the sour smell of the pyre, and I remembered that back in our clearing I would find no mother and no Bran, and this place had been where they had tried to kill us. It was no longer home, and could never be again. I rose to my feet and held out my hand to Alec. "Come on," I said softly. "They're waiting for us."

"Now my friends, you'll discover what's fun about being one of ours!" Philippe said with a laugh. Without a pause he seized Alec's hand in one of his, and mine in the other, and began to run.

I screamed, but before the sound had even faded away I realised that I hadn't needed to be fearful. This new, powerful vampire body of mine could run like the wind, even keeping up with Philippe's much longer legs. When he saw that I was keeping pace with him Philippe dropped my hand, and I looked past him and laughed at Alec.

"I'm faster than you!" I shouted.

In return Alec grinned. "Never!" he shouted, putting on a burst of speed that I immediately kept up with. Mile by mile we kept together, running so fast that our hair flew in the wind and the scenery blurred at the edges of our vision. We didn't tire, we didn't stumble, we didn't feel the leaves and twigs that whipped our skin as we shot past. I forgot about the pyre, about Mother and Bran and all the blood…I didn't think of anything but the speed and the joy of moving and the all-encompassing rush of freedom.

I grinned at Alec wickedly, and before he could even blink I kicked my foot at him and tripped him up. He grabbed me as he fell and the two of us wrestled, both of us laughing in exhilaration at our new strength, trying uselessly to best each other. It was only when we crashed into a tree and the giant fell, shaking the ground under our feet that we stopped.

"We did that?!" Alec exclaimed, looking at the fallen tree in amazement.

Philippe seemed highly amused. "We told you that you were strong."

But that strong? I shook my head, and couldn't help wishing I had had even a fraction of this enormous strength and power when I was human. Then they could never have taken me, never judged me and found me evil and set about punishing me.

"Come along now," Aro ordered impatiently. "I would very much like to be back at Volterra as soon as possible."

"Let them play a little," Philippe said tolerantly. "Don't you remember what it was like when you first learned of the strength and the speed and…"

"I've been wearing this robe for over four days, Philippe! It's filthy and it reeks of burned human flesh!" Aro snapped. "I don't wish to waste time remembering anything!"

Alec and I scrambled to our feet, with a sideways look and grin. But it seemed prudent not to antagonise Aro, who was clearly the authority figure, so we meekly ran along at his heels as he took flight through the trees.

The sea appeared out of the gloom and I slowed my run as I stared in awe. I had never seen anything so vast, had never even imagined that such a wonder as this endless, glittering water was possible.

"It's…it's forever." I breathed in the salty smell of it and tried to take it in. "Does it ever end? Truly?"

Alec shook his head. "We're not going on that. It's not safe," he said flatly. "We can swim the width of the river, but that's like a hundred rivers! It doesn't ever end!"

Philippe laughed gently. "Remember that you've changed. You could swim a thousand rivers if you wanted to, let alone this little puddle! You're immeasurably strong, and you don't need to breathe, so even an ocean couldn't stop you."

"You're not going to be swimming in any case," Lord Aro said. "I dislike it, and so I have a boat and we shall be travelling in that."

Alec looked at me with his eyes wide. We'd talked about boats, but we'd never seen one. And now we were going to sail in one…my mind was reeling with all the new information and experiences.

The boat was small, anchored in a small cove at the bottom of a steep cliff. The descent had seemed frightening at first, as I dug my fingers and toes into bare, flat rock to make holds and looked down a dizzying height to the rocks below. But my strength and balance were so superior to that of my human self that it was easy, and I followed Philippe's lead and jumped when I was halfway down. The fall felt like flying with the wind rushing past me and would have killed me if I was still human, but I landed as lightly as a cat. Alec was right behind me, and the two of us leaped into the boat and stood in the prow, staring in amazement at the cresting waves and the path of moonlight on the water. We were on our way to Volterra.