Chapter song - Russell Westbrook On a Farm by Lil Dicky
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Luca slinked carefully across the desert land, grateful that overheating as a vampire was an impossibility. The small Texan town that he had passed would be slated for death by his Masters if they saw so much as a glimmer of his true skin, hence the black robes that were standard for one of the Guard. Admittedly, the two humans that he had drained and carefully arranged in a fiery car crash had been beyond help, but the Volturi tracker didn't savor the murder and mayhem that so many other older vampires did. No, he just enjoyed the hunt of it all.
The gift of tracking vampires was both a gift and a curse. When he had been free to roam and devoid of any bonds of loyalty, other vampires had been easy to avoid. Loneliness was hardly an issue when he had traveled the world and saw such beauty that it had made up for the human blood he had spilt in order to maintain his sanity. By his third century, Luca had stopped feeling guilt.
Perhaps that sin was why he had met Olivia in the first place. He had caught a silky scent on a breeze one day, and his curiosity about its source had overwhelmed all his good senses. She had ended up being the most beautiful vampire he'd ever seen, and he had dared tried to talk to her.
La sua discarica. In his ignorance, the black robes that she had worn hadn't meant anything to him at the time. Olivia the Shadow had been impressed by his ability to follow her, and Luca had been trussed up and delivered to the Ancients' counsel within the span of a few days. He hadn't even gotten any kisses from it. And now he found himself avoiding land mines and booby traps in the godforsaken desert in order to condemn others to the same fate.
What lunatics. These vampires could only be from the Southern Vampire Wars. He could remember tracking down the coven leaders responsible for that tragedy, and the Death Twins delivering final judgement. The newborns that they had slaughtered had been different from any that he had seen before, their eyes hard and ruthlessness ingrained to their pores. As those fires had burned high into the sky, Luca had sworn to avoid Texas with all the power that he had left.
At last, after nearly losing several limbs when the sand had shifted under his feet to reveal well-sharpened spikes, he spotted a lonely little cabin. The scents that had been given to him saturated the Earth well here, confirming that his targets were nearby.
Shuddering in relief, Luca reached for the homing beacon in his pocket. A simple button press and the combative talents of the Guard would sky dive over their targets in a matter of hours. His job was done.
"Whatcha doing?" A thin, trilling voice froze him in his tracks.
A tiny pipsqueak of a vampire smiled up at him. She was ridiculously small, the spikes of her inky black hair barely reaching his collarbone. How had he not seen her?
"Bit of a downdraft. Plus a lot of my dried blood is in that shack. Kind of a bummer if I think too hard about it." She sighed tragically. Her ruby eyes betrayed her newborn status.
One of his targets, although she was supposed to be a human. Whether she was in front of him or not, he still had a job to do. He pressed the button.
Or rather, tried to press the button. A sparkling white hand grabbed his wrist. And just like that, Luca found himself expertly pinned. "Are you sure you want to face the ire of the Volturi?" He calmly asked, curious by the predicament that he found himself in.
"Well you see, the little miss right here just told me that me and my mate are dust if we don't lend a hand, and I'm inclined to believe her." A masculine draw mused. "And as long as you don't see my face, I also believe that Mr. Aro really won't have a clue who I am, is that correct, Mary?"
"Yep." The small girl crouched in front of him and looked at him intently. "Do they have the Cullen clan imprisoned in your stronghold?"
He choked out a laugh. "Why would I tell you?" His Italian came out thick on the ground with his amusement. "My masters do not handle betrayals well and I very much like my head attached to my shoulders."
Her eyes closed briefly and then opened. "Ah, I see."
A seer. It still amazed and terrified him that his masters had found a talent with the gift of foresight. Poor girl. At least he'd had the slightest chance to not be a slave until he had made a foolish error. "Being in the Guard, it's not so bad." He decided to try persuasion and give the poor girls a chance to reconsider. "Even the Witch Twins will leave you alone with the kind of privilege that they'll bestow upon you."
A sad smile crossed her face. "I just found myself again, it seems a tad cruel to let some old vampires decide what to do with my gift and life. And what my gift tells me is that I won't like even a shred of what they'll use it for. Framing covens, breaking families apart, covering human mass murders, it just really isn't my thing. Also, since they're holding my man against his will, I'm even more inclined to not cooperate." A shadow crossed her petite and lovely face. "I'm real sorry for this, by the way, but it'll only be temporary. Bella!"
A real beauty of a vampire entered his frame of vision, her face carefully closed off. Dark silky hair hung around her chin, obscuring her eyes that he was sure were the same crimson red as the other female. The scent informed him that this was in fact Isabella, the other sister. All the masters had told him was that she had a combat ability similar to Jane's.
Luca blanched as Isabella crouched beside her sister. "You're sure this'll work? I've never done this before."
Mary pursed her lips in consideration. "Uh... there's about a three fourths chance this will work correctly?"
"Real comforting." She rolled her eyes and placed a silken hand against Luca's forehead. "Don't move." She commanded arrogantly. "Or I'll fry your brains."
He froze. As absurdly improbable as that threat sounded, he'd seen insane talents throughout his existence.
"Peggy, can you lend us a hand? In exchange for your services, I swear to help you crossover if we can get to the Volturi's lair?"
Several moments of silence passed and Luca fought back a laugh. Who in the world was she talking to?
"Yes, I'll totally let you have a shot at Jasper if we get away scot-free. Seems fair enough to me." Bella let out a low chuckle that was threaded with dark humor.
And then Luca's body stopped functioning properly. It was as if someone had cut the strings from his conscientiousness and his limbs, trapping him in his own husk of a body. He couldn't even blink his eyes.
This is a bit tricky. A feminine voice, thick as molasses with a Southern accent, echoed in his head. His hand twitched before it began to push against the sand. The male who had been holding Luca down released him and danced out of his line of vision.
Who are you? Luca was petrified at the loss of control of his body. How could the masters be so far off about Isabella's ability?
If he ever got out of this hold, he swore to himself that he'd defeat her and burn her body to ashes, orders or not. A power of this magnitude couldn't be permitted to be exploited or practiced. Even as he fought against the invader, he felt his sanity begin to slip in a tragic rockslide. It took all his concentration to maintain fluidity.
Name's Peggy. I've been wandering around here for awhile, but I've just been given an opportunity that I can't turn down. Soo... sorry mister. Peggy did not sound apologetic at all as she began to invade Luca's memories, pinpointing exactly where the Volturi's stronghold in Venice was.
"I've got the location, miss." His voice rang out, betraying the institution that had held his loyalty for so long.
The sisters smiled at him and, out of the the corner of his eye, he could've almost sworn he saw a silver-furred creature prowl for the briefest of moments.
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"This sucks, bro." Emmett slammed his massive body onto the stone floor. "I thought the Volturi were either executioners or recruiters, never even occurred to me that they'd have a jail system."
Jasper fought against the instinct to growl at his brother. "You rather that they had executed us?"
He shrugged as Rose shot him the dirtiest look. "Death would be preferable to just how bored I am right now. What makes all of this worse is that those assholes are strutting around upstairs like they own the place."
Esme was the one to actually growl at him. "Do not bring up that faithless, selfish, stuck-up man. It gives me hives to think about how much time that I've wasted on him."
The large vampire's expression softened. "Sorry, I know. Let's look at the bright side, at least they don't have the girls yet even after Aro had a blast going through all of our minds." A big grin split his face as he waggled his eyebrows at Rose. "I hope he enjoyed the show."
"Dear Lord." The blonde bombshell muttered. She then redirected her attention to Jasper. "You got any ideas about how to get us out of here?"
Just as he was about to respond, an evil snicker flickered about the cell. Two platinum blonde vampires strolled in, satisfaction evident from the swishing of their robes to the twist of their mouths. "You are truly foolish." Jane said smugly. "No one has ever successfully escaped from us, nor have our masters ever been denied something that they want. You," her eyes slid over Jasper, "interest them greatly. And the rest of you are alive on Carlisle's request."
As his sister spoke, Alec walked boldly up to where Rosalie and Esme huddled in the corner. "I say, you are quite the beauty. If you agree to-how do you Americans say it? Fucking. Yes, that's it. If you agree to fuck me, perhaps I can get you released early."
Rose cocked her face in obvious disgust as Esme gasped and Emmett slammed onto his feet and decked the other vampire with a tremendous crack in an uncharacteristic show of silent rage. Alex slammed into the concrete wall with a boom and slid to the floor.
He looked dazed as half of his face was cracked from the force. An off-kilter smile broke onto his otherwise bland face. "I must kill you for that, you ape." He held out his arms in an odd gesture.
Jasper felt the ill intent and felt his leash shatter into a thousand pieces. This was his family. He forgot about strategy, about the smart way to proceed to ensure everyone's survival; he merely wanted to inflict as much pain as possible.
So that's what he did.
Before Alec's long-range gift could hit his big, dumb, loving brother, he had the man's arms pinned to the wall. "What a useless pair you are," he purred. "A long-range gift that telegraphs its directions with your arms and that has some serious lag, and" his leg shot out to catch Jane's face as she charged at him, "a little pipsqueak that has to touch others, but doesn't really know how to fight."
He ripped off Alec's arms and he shouted out in pain. "Well, Jane, darlin." He approached the small female with a peaceful smile. "Let's just see how interested those old asses are in me after I make you hurt a little."
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Can anybody recognize what chapter Peggy is from?