Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer!

Here we go. I hope it all makes sense now!

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Chapter 29 – Deathly Hunger

We walked through the same dark passage I had come to recognise all too familiarly, despite my change. The darkness no longer affected me in the way that it had as a human. I could see just as well as I could in daylight. My feet seemed to move on their own accord, without conscious thought as to keeping myself balanced and upright. I felt like I was floating and in complete control of my body. It was unearthly.

At the end of the passage, the doors opened and I moved forward into the square room with four doors. This time, however, I wasn't frightened or nervous. I wondered for a moment whether this was because of my newly created vampire status, and in part, it was. Maybe I was being overly confident; a fool, but either way, it felt good to be able to walk without the feeling of being suffocated by my own fear.

Jane's thoughts weren't concealed from me because none of the Volturi guards were aware of what I was able to do yet. It only seemed to work if a talent had been used on me though. I hoped Jane would try me.

We went straight through the door ahead, and I could hear the tapping of a keyboard and the strong beating of a heart. I could hear the blood pulsing through veins, thick like molten gold. The life in the room was pounding against my senses powerfully. The scent of blood sharp and delectably swirling around me like fragrant air.

Then I spotted it. The prey I had been anticipating so heavily. I moved with lightening speed, my only purpose was to take the life waiting so patiently for me. It was like it was meant to be. I was supposed to take this life. It was mine.

Venom dripped from my mouth in rivulets, bitter and pungent. The only way to remove the taste was to take the sweet blood caressing my senses. Before I could comprehend what was happening, my mouth had locked onto the neck of my prey. My teeth as sharp as razor blades sliced through the flesh of her neck like butter and cut into the jugular vein with ease. Then the blood hit the roof of my mouth and instinctively I began to swallow the thick liquid. Never had I tasted something so...it was inexpressible.

The first swallow was the hardest. There was an agonizing burn in my throat like a fire that was eating me up from the inside out. Swallowing past that raw fire was indescribable—like putting pressure on a painful burn, but once the blood hit the allegorical fire, it eased to a dull smoulder; reducing to cinders until another lit match would come along. In this case, the matches were humans and the cinders would never fully burn out. It would be a curse to carry through my entire undead life.

"Bella, stop!" a voice said through the lustful, drug-like haze. I stopped mid swallow, but kept my lips locked over the wound I had created. The heart of my prey was beating sporadically and its strength was pushing the pulsing blood around her vessels faster. The liquid now coming thicker and faster into my mouth and dripping from my lips, cooling as it left the feverish heat of her body.

"Bella, let go slowly." I felt a pair of colder arms touch my shoulders and instantaneously I let go of the body. I turned on the threat, the rival for my fodder, and pinned him down, straddling his waist and snapping at his face like a rabid dog.

Another pair of arms pinned me from behind, these ones larger and stronger than the first pair. I pulled against my attacker in a frenzy of rage, but another pair of arms—a third pair—helped to hold me. I tried to kick my legs, but they too had now been pinned. I was seeing red-- a cloud of red surrounding my senses. I realised this was my own emotions. Rational thought started to come back to me in short bursts of pain. I could taste the coppery essence of blood on my tongue; feel the liquid drying on my face. Horror dawned on me. Not completely because of what I had done, but because I had enjoyed it. Even now the taste of blood was tantalising. What did that say about the state of my soul? That I had killed and been more concerned about enjoying it than actually taking a life? Or was it a sign that I so clearly still had a conscience, still had hope?

The bodies pinning me down stayed on me, restraining my movement and keeping me uncomfortable. I had stopped struggling.

"How did she smell it?" Jane asked no-one in particular. "Corin, how hard were you shielding us from the smell?"

"I was shielding to the maximum of my ability. I knew we might have problems, so I was being cautious." The cadence of his voice told me he was as bewildered as the rest of them.

"It seems her inbuilt shield mechanism has survived the change. Aro will be pleased."

I managed to turn my head slightly to the side and saw the body lying by the desk. Blood pooled and started to absorb into the carpet. I took in the features--Gianna. I'd killed Gianna. Oh God.

Just then, three more guards came through a set of doors, followed by Aro. He looked at the mess and clicked his fingers at the three guards. All of them descended on Gianna. Venom rose in my throat. Not because of hunger or desire—not entirely--but because I wanted to vomit.

"Get me out of here, please," I whispered and tried to swallow my remorse.

Demetri and Jane eased off my legs allowing me to stand. I expected my legs to feel stiff and awkward, but they were just the same as before, as if nothing had happened. As if I hadn't gone into a mad feeding frenzy and killed an innocent human. I gulped again, this time trying to flatten the grief that threatened to spill out and encase me like a cocoon.

I barely registered Corin and Felix still holding my arms in vices. Their muscles were tensed and ready for another nefarious episode to occur at the hands of the newborn.

"Well, Bella, what an entrance," Aro said with obvious amusement. I felt sick. He led the way through the large mahogany doors and into the large room I remembered so vividly from my human life.

The thrones sat at the front of the room. Two of them were occupied by Caius and Marcus. Marcus' expression showed disinterest—as usual—but underneath that, I could see and feel his sheer astonishment at what I had done. He thought I was good through and through, but has now come to realise I'm another weapon in Aro's armoury. I clenched my jaw to hold back my dry sobs.

Aro sat swiftly in his own throne, the throne in the centre, the throne that showed that he was the most superior, no matter what his brothers might think. I glanced around and noticed that the entire guard was here, plus the wives who were floating near the back of the thrones. They looked saintly, but the essence they held told you they were anything but angelic.

"I'd like to welcome Bella to our large and ever growing family. She has potential that has yet to be tapped into, and with her, we may just be able to do what we have been trying to do for centuries. To take over man-kind. Now is the time to mobilise our forces. Now is the time to finally show what we are." The dire words skimmed my ears and touch the rest of the vampires in a way that seemed to accentuate his phrasing. Then I looked to Corin. He was helping Aro by putting the guards into some kind of stupor.

I suddenly felt a twinge of unease in my stomach, but after a moment it passed. I looked around the room and saw Chelsea concentrating on me. She was trying to bind me to the Volturi, but by the look on her face, she wasn't having much luck. I wanted to smile, but provoking any of them wasn't in my best interests in the long run.

I thought about what had happened by the cars earlier. If someone used a power on me, the theory was that I absorbed it; and if I touched the person with that power, I could control it. Corin had used his power on me, and he was holding my arm. I brushed my fingertips along his side for an instant and felt a switch click inside me. It was like I had infra-red vision. Everyone was a black blur in this strange, secondary way of seeing.

I concentrated harder and realised that the vampires weren't black blurs, but they were covered in black mist. It seemed to consume them and cut off their senses. I turned to Corin. He was directing the mist, wrapping it around people and breathing his hallucinations into their senses. That was how it operated. Knowing how it worked also meant I knew how to reverse its effects.

It was like breathing in smoke. I had to inhale all of the smoke and swallow it back inside myself; leaving the vampires clear and unaffected. I turned to look at Felix. He wasn't covered in the fine mist, neither was Jane, Aro or Corin himself. Why only the four vampires? I dug into Corin's thoughts. Concentrated on the sound of his voice and found the information I was searching for. Felix was holding me so needed to be completely in control. Jane was also a precaution for me, and Aro was the one who had ordered Corin to use his talents in such a way.

I was about to start dragging the mist away from the bodies when it started to move backwards and attract itself to Corin. Then it simply disappeared and a sigh filled the room. I blinked and the strange vision had passed. The vampires were back to normal, and Corin was no longer expending his gift.

Now for Chelsea, I thought, but I couldn't get close to her whilst I was being restrained. I just had to hope for another chance to touch her.

"I think we should show Bella to her accommodation. Felix, Corin, Jane...and Chelsea; show her to her room." The strange amusement in Aro's voice left me unnerved, but I held my emotions in check and left the room with the four guards. Luckily, one of them was Chelsea.

The building was like a maze. The corridors were long and every few metres they spanned out into more sections. Each corridor was identical to the previous one. It seemed the perfect way to keep prisoners. They would never be able to escape if they did get out of a cell.

I tried to memorise the route, but it was difficult. I remembered the turns instead. Left, right, right, left...

Finally, we reached a corridor with wooden doors and lit torches. The doors seemed much more fragile than I expected. I thought there would be reinforced steel or something tougher.

We stopped at the third door.

"This is your room, Bella," Jane spoke in a light voice that seemed empty, her thoughts were also empty of anything of importance.

We entered the room--Felix and Corin still holding onto my arms like I was going to escape at any given chance. I wasn't so stupid. I planned to wait.

The room was the colour of coals with a canopied bed in the middle of the room. There was a dresser opposite the bed and a cabinet by the side. No windows, however, but gold metallic curtains covered one wall. What was the point?

Jane sat on the bed and fluffed up one of the pillows, then she patted the white sheet next to her. I looked at Felix and Corin and they let go of my arms. Inside my head, something was screaming, "You're free, free! Run!" But I knew I couldn't. Instead, I went against my instincts and walked painfully slowly towards the bed. The air was tense and Chelsea was stood by the door. If I went over to her now, they could think I was trying to escape, then I wouldn't be trusted. I walked over to Jane and sat down.

"I'll keep her company," Jane said to the others and told them to leave. No-one moved though.

"We are to keep her under the watch of four guards for now, Jane. Aro's orders," said Felix and he let out a small satirical grin. It made me want to crawl out of my skin.

Jane said nothing and just sat next to me--Doing nothing. I mimicked her actions, as did the other three guards. We did nothing else and I felt like screaming in frustration.

~*~

After what seemed like hours, Jane left with Felix to see if Aro had any further orders. That left me with Corin and Chelsea. Chelsea still kept her distance, as though aware that I was up to something, or maybe she thought of me like a viper, ready to attack at any sudden movement?

"You're awfully quiet," Corin said conversationally. I said nothing in response. I just stared at Chelsea.

Corin sat on the bed where Jane had been and the silence ticked on.

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A/N: R&R!

Thanks for the awesome reviews last chapter!