Beastly

Aro's intention to claim Alice as his became more and more evident. He was now talking to her at least twice a week and watching her everyday. Worse, he had begun to leave little presents in her bag –chocolates, makeup, fashion magazines, little trinkets he knew she liked. If he ever knew how much these gifts disturbed her he never showed it, but Alec told me about how pale her face would be when she found the objects, how she would look around, somehow knowing herself observed.

He watches her from the outside of the house. He's left something on her night table, chocolates and a small stuffed bunny. He saw her leave school almost twenty minutes ago, so it won't be long until she's home. Sure enough, he can hear her now. She goes into the house and heads towards her bedroom. She sees what he left for her, and it seems that she gathers courage to pick up the objects. Aro can see her mind working, trying to figure it out. Finally, she makes the connection. She looks around, intuitively knowing she's being watched, and tries to know where he is. There is a strange look on her pretty face, paler than usual, and in her alert sapphire eyes. It takes a moment for Aro to place that look: she's frightened, very frightened. He longs to run to her side and soothe her, tell her he means no harm, but he knows it's better to let her emotions rest and settle. Oh, but she's so beautiful! The fear in her face gives it a whole new expression, and he loves it. So vulnerable, so tender, and so ready to be shaped and taken under his protection. In a way, knowing that he's capable of provoking such strong emotions in her excites him. He controls what she feels now; he can make her feel whatever he wants.

She takes the stuff and puts it inside a bag; there she keeps everything he has ever given her. She lacks the courage to throw it away, and also to just take it. Alice hasn't told anyone about this, no one knows about Aro but her. She did consider talking to someone about it, but now she thinks it's too late; anyone who heard her would think that if she hasn't stopped him by now it's because she actually likes it. She takes the bag and throws it in the back of her closet, then plops herself on her bed. He stays a few minutes longer, then leaves, with the scarf he managed to steal from her closet well saved in his pocket.

Aro stormed into the hall, walking fast and furiously. Behind him the door closed with a huge blow that echoed around the walls. His eyes were lost, with some inferno burning in them; his hands trembled and there was the faintest of growls building in his throat. His face was never more like a vampire's, and his body looked ready for battle. No one had ever seen him like that, and we didn't dare say nor do anything. He walked around the hall until finally we understood what had happened.

"She said no!" he roared.

"Brother, what's the matter?" asked Caius as he and Marcus rushed to his side. Even them, so used to Aro's millennia of fits, looked worried.

Aro paced around the hall, furious and restless as a caged lion. His eyes burned like red coals, and if anyone approached him or talk to him he looked likely to rip the intruder's head off. It seemed as if at any moment he would start to breathe out fire.

"Master, what happened?" I took the risk and spoke. Alec grabbed me by the hand and pulled me behind him.

"I talked to her today, after her classes," he growled to no one in particular. "I'd even brought her a rose, like the day we first spoke," here he smashed a table with his fist. "And then she became all serious, asked me what my intentions with her were. I thought I should be honest so that we could make quicker progress, so I told her that I was looking for something more formal with her, that I wished to begin a proper courtship and that she was beginning to represent something very special to me."

"And then?" asked Marcus.

"And then she pursed her lips, looked at me, and began saying, 'Oh sir, I appreciate that' ", here he mock-mimicked her voice, " 'but I' m afraid I can't accept your offer.' And then she went on and on saying that she's too young, that she hasn't begun to think about those things, 'of course I feel very flattered by your words, but it's much too soon for me to give you an answer'. She said she needs time, and she wants me to think it over, too. And then she left! Just like that! She turned around and left! I stood there, me, humiliating myself before a human child, and she had the nerve of refusing me!"

"Brother, calm yourself," began Marcus. "What would be the problem with letting her ripen more? You don't want any whining brat by your side, do you? She should mature."

"For fuck's sake, I have seen girls younger than her with children at their breasts! And she says she's too young!"

"Aro, she is young, and those were old times." For the first time, Caius intervened in Alice's behalf. "You can't expect her to have her whole life figured out right now. She needs time to grow up and to think."

"What's there to think about? Her life is with me. And don't you go bullshit me with that age thing. Mona Mayfair was just Alice's age when she produced the next witch of her dynasty.

"God forbid your Alice is anything like Mona. Just listen to what she says, Aro, give her time. What's four, five years to you, to us? Let her grow up and then she'll be perfect and ready for you."

"She's perfect and ready for me just as she is right now. But she's playing with me, playing and trying to slowly drive me crazy. She's just teasing me! Happily and intentionally teasing me, the little whore!"

He smashed a bookshelf, and both Caius and Marcus tried to make him calm down, reason with him, try to make him control his temper. But Aro was blind with fury, and he would not listen to anyone. For a whole week he didn't go out and spent his time cursing her with such wrath we began to fear for his sanity. In all the years I had known him he had never been the kind to lose control over anything, least of all a girl. He was the one who would calculate the next step, watch, be patient, he would always take his time to scheme his way to anything he wanted without ever doubting or getting angry. This Aro was a whole new person and he was horrifying. Caius and I talked once, and I realized just how very disturbed Aro's brothers were about this whole situation.

"Jane," he said, "please look after him. You are the only person he might listen to, you're the only one who could stop him from doing something stupid."

"I don't think he will listen to anyone right now, Caius. The one person who could have some influence on him is her."

"That goddamn little brat," he said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what powers she has, but she will be his ruin. Whatever happens, whether she accepts him or not, she will be his ruin. But do look after Aro, Jane, you really have that power to make him feel better, and you give him good advice. You have always been a good support for him, and even if he doesn't realize, he will need you a lot. Be there for him."

We tried to continue with normal life despite Aro's distress. The fine operations of vampire society couldn't afford to be interrupted by a thirteen-year-old girl's refusal. Law was as strictly applied as ever, covens were supervised, administration flowed. Heidi continued providing us with fresh nourishment through a thousand twisted strategies, and we carried on with the exquisite secret of our world. But one day I arrived to the Main Hall for mealtime and saw everyone standing in shock. Some of the vampires were feeding, but the majority simply stood there, with only the eyes betraying what was clear in the humans' weeping and screaming. Through closed doors came the cries of a girl, human by the sound of her heart, inarticulate, painful voice breaking down. Aro was nowhere to be seen and I knew he was in there with the girl. No one dared move while that encounter lasted. Eventually the screams ceased, and Aro appeared. He looked at all of us, vampires and humans alike, and then proceeded to feed as if nothing had happened. The guard soon followed the example and no one made the slightest reference to the corpse that could be seen through the open door.

Felix was later sent in to deal with the girl's body, and he described a young teenage creature who had been martyrized in essentially every way possible. Heidi said she had arrived with the big group of humans, and that the moment Aro had spotted her he had taken her to that room to the side of the Hall. He had never done something like that; those humans were only nourishment and had never been used as any sort of diversion, so Aro's actions had us all baffled. Then, the following week, it happened again: the young girl, the screams, the killing. That time I managed to have a quick look at her: she couldn't have been older than fifteen, pretty, soft, quite charming. She had been severely hurt by Aro, and I simply couldn't understand why; it didn't even look as if he had fed from her. Then it happened again, and yet once more.

As I thought about the four girls it all suddenly clicked. It took me a while, but I noticed the pattern. I remembered the corpses Aro left and saw the blue eyes, the dark hair, the fair skin, the youth. He was killing her lookalikes. Alice's lookalikes. He was looking for girls around Alice's age and physical appearance (though none as beautiful as her), and cruelly murdering them for how she was making him suffer. He had sworn he would kill her, he had sworn he would make her pay, but he loved her too much to actually hurt her, so he sought representations of her to put out his anger with. It was then when I began to be scared, truly scared for him, for what he was becoming, for what she was doing to him. This wasn't my Aro, the Aro I knew and loved. This was a madman. This was a monster.