I remembered every one of them. Their smell, their shape, their murderous glares, everything about them gave me chills.
Aro, Caius and Marcus sat at the center of the table with the woman I had seen in Jake's memory, Renata, standing behind them, touching their backs. To the left were Chelsea and Demetrius. Jane and Alec, looking sinister as ever, sat on the right.
Their unblinking stares were cold and invasive, though I knew it wasn't me they were staring at.
Caius spoke first.
"You honor us with a visit, Nahuel," he said staring intently at him with a small smile. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
Nahuel's fists tightened.
"You know full well why I'm here," he spat, walking forward.
He suddenly came to stop as cry of pain escaped his lips. Nahuel fell to his knees, his body trembling.
"You will speak to him with respect," said Jane smugly.
Aro raised his hand.
"There is no need for such violence," he said, smiling. "He is a guest."
"How dare you," said Nahuel through gritted teeth, "Having your spy watch Huilen and I, what was your purpose?"
"We might ask the same of you," said Caius, "seeing as you killed him, our researcher."
"He did not give us the information we requested," said Nahuel.
"We do not divulge information to outsiders," said Caius, "But, I am curious as to why you questioned him instead of immediately disposing of him."
"Aside from the one called Alice that stumbled upon me two years ago, no one is supposed to know where we reside," said Nahuel.
"Yes, Demetrius here has an exceptional ability to find those who don't want to be found," smiled Caius.
"And why did you wish to find me?" asked Nahuel, his eyes narrowed.
"We only wished to observe you, to see your abilities," said Aro calmly, "We wanted to know more about you. Knowledge is power, my friend, and we must be the most powerful."
"Unfortunately, you have slain our informant," said Caius, "So we've lost that knowledge. That is, until you arrived on our doorstep."
"And what makes you think I'm going to give you any information?" asked Nahuel, crossing his arms.
He felt a twitch of annoyance as Jane and Alec laughed. Aro rose from his seat and walked towards Nahuel. Renata kept her hand on his back.
Nahuel's vision became nothing but darkness, he couldn't breathe, couldn't smell, couldn't feel. It was as if his senses had been completely cut off.
Alec, I thought grimly. He was panicked for a moment before his sight slowly returned and he saw Aro grasping his arm.
"I see," said Aro, "You can keep your thoughts silent. Interesting."
"Another shield?" said Jane disgustedly.
"No," said Aro, "It is similar, though. He has the ability to repress his thoughts, to a point where he nearly wipes it from his memory. In essence, he can forget things, like the day his killed his mother and such."
He felt a twinge of pain as his anger and hatred for these monsters grew stronger. Aro released him and went to sit back in his place.
"That'd be useful against Edward Cullen," said Alec, grinning.
"Yes, indeed," agreed Caius.
So they wish to use me as a pawn against the Cullens. As if I would betray my own kind, thought Nahuel, remembering an image of my face as a child.
"I wonder," said Aro, "Would you consider joining us, Nahuel?"
"No," he said simply.
The corners of Aro's mouth twitched slightly.
"It is amusing," said Caius slowly, "how you have given us the same response as Joham did."
"What does my father have to do with this?" asked Nahuel, narrowing his eyes.
"As per your suggestion two years ago, Demetrius here," Caius looked over at the vampire to his left, "sought out your father and brought to us. He had a brilliant mind to have created the concept of conceiving a half breed such as yourself."
"He had a brilliant mind?" repeated Nahuel.
"Ah, yes," said Cauis softly, "He was not as cooperative as expected and turned out to be more of an annoyance."
"Is that so?" asked Nahuel, shaking in anger.
"Yes. We did not feel he was beneficial to us any longer. We disposed of him."
I felt Nahuel snap, his vision becoming a red blur. His body acted on his own while his mind took a backseat to animal instincts, lunging towards Caius with his teeth bared, wanting only to rip out his throat so that he would no longer have the ability to speak. I saw Caius, still sitting in his chair, unmoving.
Suddenly, as if something had changed his mind, Nahuel's rage disappeared as he dropped his arms in mid-jump and fell to the ground, confused.
Frustrated, he rose, only to fall to the ground again, cringing in pain. This time, no one moved to stop Jane for a while.
When the agonizing pain had finally stopped, Nahuel shakily got up on his feet.
"Why did I…?"
"We are not fools, to sit idly before you without protection," said Aro, looking towards Renata. "Though, we do offer the same protection to all who join us."
"Torture me then," he growled. "I have no intention of joining you."
"Perhaps you will think differently when we introduce you to our newest… recruits," said Caius, smiling smugly.
He motioned the guards to open the door. First came two guards who promptly bowed to the vampires sitting at the table, followed by three young women with the same rich, dark brown skin and long black hair as Nahuel, though one them had light brown eyes, another had dark blue and the other had light green. The resemblance between the four was almost impossible to miss.
"I don't believe that introductions are necessary, seeing as you should recognize your own sisters," said Aro lightly.
Nahuel ignored him, having only eyes for his siblings who wore light gray cloaks around their shoulders.
