Chapter 26

Seth

The roar of the ocean crashing against the rocks below the jutting cliff was somewhat soothing to my riled senses. Both my wolf and human ones. We sat just before the edge facing each other in silence. The heavy clouds had parted to reveal the half moon again. Its light emphasized her ethereal beauty making the vivid green of her dress appear even more startling against her ivory skin.

She was staring at the mountainous terrain visible from our high perch, her small pearly teeth unconsciously biting her smooth, pale lip.

I sat there patiently, one of my legs stretched out on the soft grass while the other was bent as I rested my arm on my knee striving not to stare at her so hard. But failing miserably.

If I could stay here with her for the entire night just simply looking at her, I'd be a happy man.

She dragged her wide eyes almost reluctantly to me now and her lips parted then closed again as if she wanted to start talking but then lost her nerve.

"C'mon it can't be so hard." I coaxed her gently.

"Well it is. It's... difficult for me to talk about my life, to open up myself to you like this. It's certainly not easy."

I frowned regretting my rash comment. Of course I should have known that she had not really confided in anyone throughout all these long years apart from her...Volturi peers perhaps. And I recognized then the immense gift she was giving me. She didn't have to tell me anything. But she chose to reveal her life to me and I was fiercely grateful that she even wanted to.

"I didn't mean it would be easy...I just want you to be able to tell me anything and know that I wouldn't judge you."

"It's not a matter of you judging me...that's not what I'm worried about. When I mentioned leaving with the Volturi, you...didn't handle that well. I need to know that you'll only listen, Seth. That you won't overreact to anything I might say."

"I won't." I vowed. I could rein my temperament. I would do that for her. Usually I would never even have a problem controlling my temper...but she was changing me. Just as I believed that I was somewhat changing her. And I was almost desperate to believe that all these changes between the both of us would result in something great.

She sighed heavily, beginning to bite that lip again. I dragged my gaze away from her mouth.

"So you have a brother as well...in the Volturi? What's his name?" I prodded her, trying to get her to open up to me...and to distract myself from leaping across to her and pressing her against the grass.

But I really wanted to know, nonetheless.

"Alec." She whispered sadly, staring down at her pale hands. "He's my twin brother, created a vampire the same time I was."

My brows shot up in surprise. "Your twin? Whoa." I could see from the look on her pale face how much she missed her brother. Shame washed through me. She seemed so desolate and all I could think about was 'jumping' her. Sighing softly, I scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm about her slim shoulders. She smiled a little, leaning against me.

"Yes, my twin." She hesitated then said, "His power is opposite to mine. Where I can make someone experience unimaginable pain, he can numb all their senses. His power is somewhat similar to how an anesthetic works."

"The both of you must be really coveted by the Volturi...just to use you for their benefit..." I spoke my thought aloud.

She glanced up to stare at me sharply. Closing my eyes briefly, I snapped my mouth shut.

"Never mind that." I said contritely.

She glared at me for a few moments then heaved her slender shoulders in a sigh. I squeezed her arm in what I hoped was a reassuring gesture. She continued to glare at me yet I still had to trail my finger against the smoothness of her cheek. She sighed softly again when I tucked a tendril of her silky hair behind a delicate ear. Then she continued talking steadily as I listened intently.

"You are right though. At least about the coveting part. We are the cornerstone that comprises the top rank of guards in Volterra."

My finger lingered on her cheek as I caressed feather light strokes against her alabaster skin. She smiled gently leaning her face into my caresses before moving with lightening quick speed out of my reach. With uncanny attention, I tracked her inhumanly quick movement to where she was now standing at the front of the border of trees leading to the cliff's edge.

"Come back here." I said quietly. The crashing beat of the waves was the only sound in the night air while she stared back at me.

"No." She said softly. I growled and she giggled a little. The tinkling tones of her light laughter sounded surreal in the dense forested area. With deliberate slowness, I stood up and began a silent stalk towards her.

"Seth, you're distracting me." She said pouting. I couldn't help smiling when she put her lips like that. In the blink of an eye, I was in front of her. She gasped softly, "You're so fast now."

"Yes, you can never outrun me again." I said intending to tease her yet ending up sounding all serious instead. I didn't know how I was going to cope with her leaving. Didn't know if I could...

I ran my fingers through the length of her loose hair, loving the feel of its satiny weight against my skin. She closed her eyes, sighing, "I can never get enough of this..."

"Enough of what?" I asked softly, my gaze riveted on her lacy fringe of lashes brushing her skin. Then she opened her eyes to look directly into mine.

"Your touch." She whispered. She'd barely finished speaking before my lips were on hers, my hands going to cradle her face so that I could kiss her as thoroughly as I needed to. I tugged on her cool lips with my warm mouth, lightly nipping her lower lip. Her lips parted with a dainty growl. Our tongues touched and I groaned against her. The feel of her soft tongue stroking against mine was irrefutably dissolving gravity into oblivion. For that moment it felt like we were afloat in each other's arms and I had no sense of where we were. All my senses were anchored to the feel of her against me, the taste of her in my mouth and her sweet scent engulfing me.

I'd be more lifeless than a long dead planet if she left me. Hell, I'd follow her anywhere, even if Volterra had been light years away.

With steely determination I lifted my mouth from hers. There was so much I still wanted to know about her. She gazed at me with large, drugged looking eyes and I couldn't help feeling a hint of smugness.

"Will you tell me more?" I asked her gently.

"Will you keep distracting me?" She retorted, her cupid bow lips curling up in a saucy little smile.

"I won't.."I said even as I lowered my face to hers again.

"Seth..." Her voice held a mixture of slight reprimand and good-natured exasperation. I'd like to think that her slight frown was one of disappointment when I barely stopped myself from kissing her again.

I grinned ruefully. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Just...hold that kiss for me." She strolled ahead of me and my eyes inadvertently followed the slight sashaying movement of her hips in that enticing dress before she sat down on the grass. She had a natural feminine grace not at all contrived that made her all the more sexy to me. I followed her like a man possessed which in a sense I was and sat on the grass beside her.

"Our life in Volterra is not so bad as you would think. Aside from the feeding frenzies, well from your perspective anyway."

Feeding...frenzies? I gulped a little. She didn't elaborate on that though.

"One of my favourite places to spend my free time is the vast library. I love perusing the innumerable scrolls and recordings there. I suppose it would have an accounting of your Quileute wolves in there somewhere though I have never come across it. What intrigued me even more about that library were the locked files that not even I as a senior Volturi member was permitted to access."

"But if you had access to such a library, weren't there any books and such on modern lifestyles?"

"The Volturi library only contains carefully recorded material of the supernatural world and the history of the Volturi. There are also countless educational books as well. But not modern paraphernalia like magazines and such."

In my estimation, I thought it did not include modern material just so that the Volturi members wouldn't be tempted to experience life outside Volterra. Cunning bastards...

"I won't go into the individual members and their strengths. That's irrelevant. And it would place you in more danger."

Her concern for me was endearing but unnecessary. I was fully confident that we could successfully oppose, even defeat these Volturi. Or at least send them packing. Again.

"What I really wanted to make clear is how many times I've maimed and killed. Killed other vampires. And humans. I have drained humans countless times to the death. And it meant nothing to me. I...killed an immortal child once. I threw him into a...fire. Without any remorse. And what's more, all the other guards have been under a certain influence from one of our gifted members. It makes them...beholden to Aro...to serve him without any hesitation whatsoever. But I have never needed this influence. All those missions I did of my own free will."

I didn't even flinch as I looked at her steadily while she spoke. Though it hurt...badly...to hear her speak of her past without any emotion whatsoever. If she had been trying to scare me, she had been successful. To an extent.

I was scared that I would never be able to help her overcome this way of life.

Her past was already sealed, her deeds could not be reversed. But I fervently hoped that her time here with me had affected her to the point where she would begin to question her lifestyle.

"And would you kill so easily again? Can you kill so easily again?" I still had to ask even if I already had a good idea of what her answer would be.

"Yes."

I swallowed, nodding my head a little. I had expected her to say that but it still pained me. She hadn't even paused in her response. I reminded myself that her habits had been embedded in her psyche for centuries and just a few weeks spent away from that hellhole could not irrevocably change her. I believed though, that she was more content here. That belief made me even more determined that I do all within my power to convince her to stay with me.

"Why do you really hate fires?"

She gasped loudly at my sudden question. He fingers went to her temples as she closed her eyes shut. My arm was around her immediately where we sat side by side on the grass. I simply held her as she shuddered briefly in my arms. She had to know I was going to ask that at one point or the other given her earlier reaction to the bonfire. That she reacted like this to my question told me that what she had to say was going to be really terrible...

"It was a fire that started all this. Our transformation into vampires, our place with the Volturi..." She stopped as if she couldn't say anymore.

"Can you tell me about it?"

She became still and silent again, breathing a bit harshly now and then against my chest. Whatever had occurred with that mysterious fire had her traumatized. I felt so useless as she was engulfed with pain from this memory. To keep such rancor and suffering bottled inside...for two centuries...

I squeezed my eyes shut...such a thing was incomprehensible to me. And to think she had to go through that...the thought was unbearable. I opened my eyes quickly before she saw my reaction and decided not to reveal anything further at all.

Instinctively I knew that she had to talk about this, that doing so would help her to finally acknowledge it fully. And allow her to heal.

But I waited patiently for her, letting her decide without my coaxing if she would tell me or not. She lifted her face from my chest and I almost gasped at the way her face was leached of her normal expressiveness and vigor. Little did I know that this was her regular demeanor before she even knew I existed. She looked so...lifeless...

"The way we would have died was the foundation for our enhanced powers. The pain my victims feel when I use my power is an interpretation of the exact pain I felt when I was burning at the stake."

My mouth soundlessly formed the word 'no'. I looked at her with dawning horror. Horror that she went through such an unspeakable torment. Her face was turned away from me as she continued, her voice devoid of any inflection whatsoever.

"Our human lifetime was a time when 'witches' were frequently burned at the stake." She said that so casually as if it were something completely mundane.

"Most times these people subjected to such a fate were normal humans, wrongfully accused. However we, Alec and I, were real witches. Something we had unsuccessfully tried to disguise. We never knew our parents and it was one of our aunts that reared us from young. She repeatedly told us that we were bastards and our mother had abandoned us. What I really remember of our childhood was the frequent beatings and the revulsion of our extended kin and the villagers. Our family had long suspected that we were not average perhaps by little incidents where we unwittingly showcased our powers. I can't even remember how potent our power had been while we were humans. What I do remember is the manner in which we had finally revealed ourselves, the final incident that would sentence us to the fire."

I was speechless listening to her. My mouth had fallen open as she had talked and glancing at me, she absently with one slim finger lightly pushed against my jaw, effectively closing my open mouth.

" She...my aunt...had announced that I was to be sold at a slave market to the highest bidder who would have me. It was a slave market specifically geared towards selling unwanted girls as wives to bidders. I would have resigned myself to my fate thinking it couldn't be any worse than living with my relatives. Except for the fact that Alec and I would have been separated. And that was not something we were willing to bear. We begged and pleaded to be allowed to leave, to go away and forge a life for ourselves. But my aunt was wary of us, afraid of our combined power and the main reason she wanted me to go to that market was to divide us. We learned later that they had been planning to kill Alec. She attempted to beat us into submission once again but we didn't bear it that time. Not like we once did out of fear of revealing too much of our powers.

My power as a human had been nothing compared to my power now as a vampire. I had managed to stop her though as she screamed more in fright than actual affliction at the tiny pin points of minor pain that she felt all over her skin. As a human, the most pain I had ever been able to inflict was akin to the most severe of our beatings. Yet at that time I only used enough of my power to scare her away from hitting us again. The pain our aunt felt that day was much less intense than most of her beatings. But it was enough to have us sentenced to the stake. Swiftly our relatives had locked us away and we were only let out when the...soldiers came for us."

She stopped abruptly. I still couldn't comprehend that she went through something like that. I felt my wolf stir in agitation but I was able to tamp down the feeling easily. She did not need my wolf's misplaced anger right now. She needed me to be strong enough to listen.

"Before the fire could finish its work, Aro had come for us." She smiled then, her voice becoming tender with reverence.

"If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be existing right now. I owe him everything that I am, for saving my brother, for saving me. As a newborn vampire, I relished the new intensity of my powers."

The way she spoke of this Aro made me clench my jaw a bit. But I had to acknowledge that rescuing her...and her brother...from that hellish fire was the best thing he had done in his probably wretched existence.

Her eyes met mine once again as she said with deliberate emphasis, "I love using my powers, it gives me a thrill to know my strength anytime anyone whether it be vampire or human is in pain before me. It gives me also a certain comfort to know that with my ability, no one would ever be able to try to hurt me again. I'm not seeking any reason to justify that I enjoy frequently using my power. I'm simply telling you how it made me feel."

She paused then. I didn't miss a beat, not looking away from her for one moment. I valued her honesty above all else. It was apparent to me that she was deliberately stressing on her past deeds in an attempt to turn me away from her. Didn't she know that there was nothing that could achieve something like that? Yet I had to ask something that would potentially further her cause.

"And now that you're not really using your power, how do you feel?"

Her eyes darted to me again, widening slightly at my question. A crease crinkled her high, pale forehead as she seemed to grasp for words.

"I feel...I...feel...well at first I hated not having the use of my power when I now came here especially staying at the Cullens and I was so angry that I couldn't...hurt you. I felt so...vulnerable with you. Besides the Cullens who I knew, you were this mysterious stranger, this other supernatural person who had the power to actually hurt me."

"And now how do you feel about not using it?" I persisted.

"Now...it feels like...I mean, I don't...miss it." She said hesitantly, her eyes staring down where her fingers fiddled with the buttons on my shirt.

"Don't you think you're happier now? Instead of when you were trapp...uh living in Volterra?"

"Seth..." She tried to stop me from saying more but I fervently continued.

"I think you don't really miss using your power because you're away from the Volturi's influence. You're free to be you, free to enjoy life without all that death...and all those violent methods surrounding you. Each time you use your power, it only makes you re-live what happened with the fire."

She gasped in shock. The devastated look on her face should have warned me that I was going too far. But I was so desperate for her to see my perspective that I forged on carelessly.

"Hurting others kept you locked in that nightmare all the time. You'll never be able to overcome that tragedy and move on if you keep reacting in that way. I understand that you're grateful to the Volturi for saving you..." I couldn't even say her creator's name...even though I'd be forever grateful to him. Vampire or not, she was made for me. I looked deeply into her eyes as I continued, "But you shouldn't have to pay for that forever. They only encouraged you to perpetually keep living in that horrible moment whenever you use your power."

She stared at me with that same devastated, almost hurt expression then the beginnings of anger began to cloud her gold hued red eyes.

"You said you'd just listen." She whispered.

I took a deep breath. "I have been listening. This might not be what you want to hear but...using your power is only making you experience the emotional pain of enduring the fire, over and over."

"You're wrong! How dare you say something like that. My power is my life!" Tearing herself out of my arms, she shot up like a bullet on the grass and I sprung to my feet as well. Her slim ivory hand moved with blurring speed but I was faster. I swiftly held her wrist before she could hit me.

"Let go of me!" She screamed, her cheeks becoming pink in her sudden rage. Her bell like voice echoed above the crashing waves below us as I stared at her in wonder.

I knew I should have stopped but despite her apparent anger the words still poured out of me.

"I know it's a hard thing to face but you need to see how damaging it is to you, Jane." I held her firmly as she struggled in my arms, trying to fight me. She was trying to fight me physically because she couldn't deal emotionally with the ramifications of what I said.

She slumped against me ceasing her struggles as dry, heaving sobs wracked her body. Heaving out a pent up breath, I released her hand, wrapping my arms around her and rocking her gently back and forth.

God, she was strong, she fought me so hard...and she was weak with pain...

Swallowing harshly, a tear slid down my cheek as she cried against me. I knew for a fact that vampires couldn't cry physically, but her sobs were still unbearable to me.

"It's okay..." I murmured soothingly, my own voice growing hoarse.

We stood there for probably hours as she cried. I simply held her, murmuring comfortingly now and then. Slowly I sank back down to the soft grass clasping her in my arms.

At one point she raised her head from where her face had been pressed against my chest to flick her fingers against her cheeks.

It was then that I saw the tears streaming down her face.

"Jane..." At the sight of her tears, my entire body went rigid with shock. My fingers brushed against her marble smooth cheek staring down wonderingly as her tears moistened my fingertips. Clear, natural tear drops.

She stared blankly at my fingers, her hand darting once again to touch her cheeks where the tears were beginning to dry in long trails against her skin. She blinked once, an expression of pure shock fleetingly crossing her delicate features.

Then she didn't blink again or move again for that matter until the sun came up.

At first when I couldn't get any response from her, I was scared out of my wits.

"Jane? Jane! Answer me!" I said frantically, peering at her anxiously. I even shook her shoulders wondering what could be wrong with her. She just sat there still as a statue staring beyond me...her eyes wide and blank...

Hastily I'd fished my phone from my pocket, calling Edward quickly. He'd barely managed to convince me that she might have gone into shock and that she would 'awaken' when she was ready. Not taking my eyes off her, I paced back and forth in a panic on the moonlit cliff right in front of her as she sat so eerily.

Finally I had sunk to my knees before her.

"Jane, please... say something." I pleaded one last time but to no avail. Sighing, I had settled myself behind her, my arms going around her still form as I held her in her frozen state of shock.

Well my wish did come true, at least partially. I sat here looking at her and holding her for the whole night. The only thing that would make me happy is when I knew for certain that she was fine.

As I sat there with her I berated myself mentally. I had pushed her too far. She had trusted me enough to confide in me and the first thing I'd seen fit to do was to tell her how she should cope. I couldn't force her to feel something she wasn't able to face yet. She had to come to those conclusions on her own. I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted nothing to do with me after this.

And so my thoughts went for the better part of the night as midnight turned into dawn.

As the sun began to rise and the forest came alive, I felt her stir in my arms. I quickened when I heard her sigh languidly, "So beautiful."

"Jane? Jane, are you alright?" I tilted my head next to hers so that I could see her face as she sat in front of me. Her bright eyes were open and her gaze roamed over the churning ocean, the vast sky and the soaring mountains.

"The sun, the water...it's all so beautiful." Her gaze was glued on the emerging sun peeking above the mountains opposite our cliff. The golden rays created star beams over the verdant forestry, spilling its reflective light onto the ocean below. It was the most beautiful sunrise I'd ever seen simply because she was here to share it with me.

She turned to smile the most radiant smile at me, the rising sun making her eyes appear even more golden. Or maybe the changing colour was now becoming complete.

Her eyes moved over my face as she whispered, "So beautiful."

Impulsively, I took her delicate hand and kissed her pale fingers softly, never releasing my gaze from her captivating one.

"Jane, I'm so sorry..." I whispered but she stopped me by placing one slim finger on my lips.

"For what? For speaking your mind? Seth, I'm the one who's sorry. I...overreacted. Story of my life." She said lightly but I could still see her slight frown.

"I still shouldn't have..."

"We'll think about it later." She interrupted my hasty apology, repeating my earlier phrase from when I'd kissed on her on the beach. She twisted her body to face me, climbing onto my lap and placing her hands on my shoulders. Then she grasped my short hair at the back of my head, boldly tilting my head back so that my neck was exposed.

Slowly the tip of her tongue darted out to lick her lips.

My already swollen cock surged against her where she was seated so intimately atop me.

Her breath hitched a little as her eyes widened slightly. Then she bent down and trailed her tongue along the length of my neck. I groaned, my hands instinctively going to her hips.

She removed her beguiling mouth from my neck, raising her face to peer down at me. Her fingers slipped to my shirt unbuttoning the first few buttons then she pressed her finger against the rapidly pulsing artery at my throat.

I didn't know how much of her teasing I could take.

"What do you want?" I whispered, my voice breaking a little.

She continued releasing the buttons on my shirt until my bare chest was against hers. Her hand trailed an icy caress down to the top of my jeans.

"You. I want all of you."