5
ALICE exhaled angrily through her flaring nostrils as she stalked her way down the hall, hoping to put as much distance between herself and Aro as possible. The rims of her eyes felt heavy and sore. She knew if this were perhaps the one time in her life where she might have shed tears, then this would have been bloody it.
She could not recollect the last time it felt as though her heart had turned to ashes in her chest and pure hatred had calloused her entire body down to the bone. She didn't know what happened to Urien or to Aro as she left the pair of vampires gaping and open-mouthed to stare after her in dumbstruck shock.
All she knew was that another vampire, the same male guard who had waited outside for her to conclude her business with Aro, was leading the way to what she surmised was intended to be her new room.
Alice swore her ears perked up at the sound of what seemed to be riotous cursing and the throwing of that tin decanter of blood coming from Aro's study, but she couldn't manage to pretend to care.
She did not mind either one of them. Hell to Aro, Hell to the Volturi, and Hell especially to Urien, who had brought her here.
Why? The one query she wanted an answer to. Why had he done it? She could have helped him. Alice huffed in frustration as the guard stopped in front of a simple closed door and opened it, stepping aside to let her enter into it.
"You'll find everything you could possibly want, Miss Cullen. Aro wants you to be happy. This is to be your room. There's a guard posted outside your room at all hours of the night, so please don't think about trying anything stupid. The opportunity you've been given is rare, dove."
She snorted and found it difficult not to roll her eyes a bit at that as she entered the otherwise plain-looking bedroom. Inside was a narrow bed intended for only one vampire, little more than a hard-looking cot, but at least the blankets looked comfortable.
Not that she needed it to sleep, but it would be nice to have something to rest on. A small bedside table and a small closet and chest of drawers. There was also a small window, through which the sunlight shone, the sky outside seemingly clear.
"You'll find everything you need in the chest or the closet," mumbled the guard in a tone that sounded like he couldn't really care less what she did with her spare time. "Anytime the master wishes to see you, I'll come and fetch you, Miss Cullen. Good luck, Alice," he said.
She didn't bother to ask the younger vampire how it was that he already knew her name. She could only surmise that at this point, Aro had told the rest of the Volturi that she'd be coming.
Alice could only nod to the guard as she closed the door behind her, and the room instantly seemed darker once the door was shut. As she moved to sit down slowly on the bed, she thought about Jasper and what he was doing.
Freaking out over her missing. She could see that much. No doubt he was already enlisting the rest of their family to search for her. But they wouldn't find her in Forks or anywhere in the continental United States.
This, at least, gave her some form of comfort. If she could find a way out of here with Urien on her own, then it meant that Jasper and the rest of her family would be safe from the Volturi, but especially Aro. It was the only thing Alice was certain about in a realm of other possibilities.
Urien had been right, however. She was going to have to be careful in how she played this. In order to get out of here, Alice thought to herself as she collapsed on the cot and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
She'd have to be strong and survive whatever Aro had planned for her, at least for a little while, enough to supplicate the man some and trick the older vampire into thinking that she was coming to see things his way, and then when there was an opening, she would make her move and she would escape.
Huffing in frustration, she stared at the ceiling before using her strength to roll over onto her side the moment she heard the sound of footfalls approaching, and the door opening.
Her mood swung easily back to her previous state of agitation as she felt the temperature in the already chilled room drop a few more degrees. She could hear movement behind her, the sound of a chair scraping across the floor.
It was quite strange, hearing the movements, the stillness, and then the heavy thick uncomfortable silence that was almost suffocating. None of those things she had felt fractions ago.
And then, she felt the icy cold touch that rendered her blood to ice in her veins at the touch of his hand upon her shoulder. It might have been gentle, soothing, perhaps, even, but it felt like nettles that turned her non-beating heart to mere ashes inside of her chest.
Alice didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. She could hear his restrained breaths, deep and agitated, and pictured the man's nostrils flaring like that of an enraged bull, and she felt the calloused fingers that drifted along her collarbones that erupted goosebumps all over her flesh, rendering her numb. She gnashed her teeth together in anger.
"Don't. Touch. Me.," Alice growled in a hiss through gritted teeth, not willing herself to face her unwanted intruder. She'd seen him coming.
Alice stiffened as she felt him smile. But the older vampire still did not need her words and firmly kept his hand planted on her shoulder.
It felt ugly. She did not want his touch. It felt like a thousand maggots crawling their way out of her pores. She resisted the urge to reach over and smack his hand away, knowing that such a gesture was sure to leave the man even angrier.
"Why? If you're going to work with us, with me, little dove, then you have to get used to it."
Aro's voice loomed, leering at her, smooth like butter over bread, though the tension in his voice could have cut through the air like a knife.
She tensed, grinding her teeth together in her growing anger. She'd seen Aro coming to see her. Of course, she'd seen it, but that didn't mean that just because she had anticipated it, didn't mean that she had to particularly like it.
She was not in the mood for keeping company now. Particularly not with the leader of Volturi.
"Why are you here?" Alice snapped angrily.
"Because you owe me an apology," he growled, and for perhaps the first time since encountering Aro today, his voice harbored the faintest twinges of anger towards her and her actions, how she'd humiliated him just now by slapping him in front of his own servant not even five minutes ago. The thought almost sent her smiling at the thought of Urien spreading the word, though she quickly swallowed it back.
Every part of her body screamed with revolt.
"You disgust me, Aro," she growled, avarice dripping from her lips, her words tasting bitter. "Having kept Urien a prisoner all along. You—you've been starving him, haven't you? Weakening him so his powers would be practically non-existent. That's why I couldn't sense him all those years? Why I couldn't find him," she breathed, as the realization hit her.
She heard Aro let out what she guessed was intended to be a disappointed sigh before speaking. "You didn't like your surprise, dear."
"You call that a gift?" she snarled angrily. She felt Aro pause, once again, almost conceding to her whims in order to keep his 'prize' happy.
"You truly are many things, my dear sweet Alice," Aro mused, almost sounding amused, finally pulling his hand off of her shoulder as she turned to face him and sat upright on the bed. "But politeness towards your superiors, not one of them. But well…" Aro paused and lifted a finger to her nape and ran his hand down along the column of her throat, eliciting a shudder from Alice as it wafted up to her spine. "I'm an understanding man, little dove. And understanding men, I guess, are the most difficult to please. But I don't think I'll have any problems with you, Miss Cullen, will I, dear?"
Alice drew in a breath and held it, feeling heat creep to her cheeks at the simple caress of his fingers. The way Aro was currently staring at her, it spurred nausea in the pit of her stomach.
She swallowed, keeping her head lowered, her eyes unmoved, and her face professionally calm.
"You don't know me, bastard," she growled. The words tumbled forth from her lips of their own accord before her brain had time to register what it was that she'd just said to Aro. Alice saw Aro flinch at the emphasis of her last word.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say that," he huffed haughtily as he looked at her.
"What, 'bastard?'" Alice feigned innocence as she summoned up enough courage to face the burning crimson eyes that held a thousand weights, his glower feeling like piercing daggers in her flesh. "Oh. My apologies. That was rude of me. But Esme told me once to address people as to who they really are, and all I see right now in front of me, is a bastard, Aro. A monster…"
"And now your mother and the rest of your family are going to die, little dove, if you don't learn to mind that tongue of yours that must be hung in the middle so it can wag at both ends."
Alice's blood churned, but so did Aro's, wrath burning in his eyes, and fear churning in Alice's. Aro tensed as he heard Alice Cullen sniffle once or twice and she sharply turned her head.
"Leave," she snapped, her tone clipped. Aro was still and unmoved, but Alice wasn't fooled. She could feel the older vampire's eyes raking all over her form, and what was new with that? He'd always desire her as his 'prize,' now should be no different. She had that going for her, at least, that she might be able to use as a bargaining chip, or at least as a bluff to buy her some time until Alice could make her escape.
"I killed a woman once, Alice, did you know?" he questioned casually as he rose from the edge of her mattress, seeming like he was heading towards the door to honor her request to leave.
Is that a threat, you bastard? Alice growled, knowing full well that Aro could hear her words.
She meant to silence her voice. She wasn't ready to lose it. But there was a little interest that sparked within her chest at the glint of gloom that resonated within the man's soft tone.
"She was one of the first I bit when Turned. She was still breathing when I sank my teeth into the skin of her throat," Aro went on in a relaxed, casual manner, as though he were discussing the weather, not taking another life.
Her curiosity piqued to a new level, but somehow, Alice managed to maintain serenity.
"What did she do to deserve such a 'mercy' killing?" Alice asked, softly, realizing for the first time, she harbored no semblance of anger in her voice as she cautiously studied Aro's expression. The man's eyes were blank, vacant.
"I don't remember. It doesn't interest me to know either, little dove," Aro immediately answered. When his voice steadily rose, Alice wisely decided it was in her best interest to cease with her line of questioning, though she could color herself most intrigued. She knew only a little of Aro's past, but who he was before and in the early days of his Turning, only Marcus really knew the truth.
Aro was a vampire with a notoriously nasty temper when provoked. It was unwise to court his anger now when she was more or less at his mercy and whims for the time being. But she knew Aro was lying to her face and he knew that she knew, too. She knew he could sing with the full details of how the taking of his first victim happened, but he was well-armored with his pure denial.
But her lips betrayed her at that moment. "How scared are you, Aro?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise and alarm at her own words, though she quickly recovered, forcing her expression to remain as calm as possible.
"What?" asked Aro, whose hand had been outstretched towards the doorknob of her door, looking like he was intending to leave, but he stilled upon hearing Alice's question to look at her. "What did you just say?" he growled irately.
"This woman you killed. She scares you. She still does," Alice politely and calmly explained.
Aro scoffed and turned his head away before turning back to look at Alice. "I've killed more men and women and even children than you could possibly imagine, my sweet little flower."
"Maybe." She lifted her chin and stuck it out somewhat defiantly to better meet the Volturi leader's gaze. Her eyes swiftly captured the perfect picture of his eyes darting to the left and right, suddenly adamantly refusing to meet her gaze.
He was growing increasingly more nervous the longer they lingered on this topic of conversation.
"But out of all the humans you've slaughtered, it's her you remember the most, isn't it, Aro? Men you say, of course. And women? How many of them have you killed?" This time, Alice saw Aro as he fully was, and she studied his smooth jet-black locks black as night. His black and crimson robes were neat and pristine, not so much as a single thread out of place. The only thing that even remotely looked out of place was the angry, sweltering, red creases on the man's knuckles, freshly made wounds by the brick wall he'd punched, and with any luck, with his strength, it was sure to still be standing the next time she had the unpleasant fortune to venture into his office.
At least now she knew where the chaos had come from.
It confused her between feeling joy or guilt at the type of violent reaction she'd been able to churn out of the Volturi leader or horror that it might be her lifeforce smeared on them next with her next outburst if she weren't careful. She let her eyes graze over the man's features, seeing the shock festering in his blood-red irises, this old bastard who dared call himself a leader.
Though Alice thought he was looking quite unhinged, as though he'd been broken and taped back together, though the cracks still screamed. And even then, despite this look that Alice wasn't quite sure how to place, Alice hated to admit she found Aro charismatic, and she abhorred herself for this.
"Say whatever you want, Aro," she snapped, lowering her lashes to avoid looking at the older vampire a second longer than she was already forced to. "Kill a hundred men and women and children if you want but committing all of those massacres isn't going to put that woman to rest," she sighed, feeling her voice lowered an octave. Suddenly she felt…old. Old and tired.
That woman. A lover, maybe? Before he'd met and more or less created his mate, Sulpicia.
Alice was jolted back to her senses as she heard Aro emanated a long exhale before forcing half a smile to creep its way onto his pale features. He strode back towards the door and rolled his neck to crack it.
Aro sighed dramatically. "This conversation, little dove, has far too many cliches, Alice. It's begun to bore me." He turned on his heels to the door. "But seeing you like this was worth it. I think that you're going to be very happy here with us as one of us, Alice. You'll see, pet…"
His last statement was as too strained as his smile was, and it almost made her insides revolt. She was more than tempted to step out into the sunlight right now and expose her true self to the human population of Volterra instead than ever let herself become a member of them.
"Aro," she blurted out, just as he flung the door wide open. He stopped midway to twist his head, peering over his shoulder to look at Alice.
She swallowed down past a lump in her throat while she racked her brain for her words.
"…will you kill me after I've outdone my purpose, Aro?" she whispered, her words faint. Her voice sounded emotionless and flat, it almost painted everything in the room a dull greyish tinge that Alice knew she did not like.
Aro remained lingering in the doorway, unstirred and as still as a perfect marble statue. Alice's eardrums roared with the deafening sound of the thick, unsettling silence that lingered between the two vampires before he finally regained control of his voice and spoke.
"You'd be pleased to know that Urien only does what I tell him to. Most of the time, unwillingly. You should have seen the fight he put up when I ordered him to Forks to find you." He giggled to himself in almost a sickening sense of glee that made her blood run freezing in her veins.
Aro's tone was almost cruel, which turned out to be steadily growing calmer as it ceased. "And seeing you like this, knowing that you are finally mine, after all of this time, these long years trying to convince you, little dove, was worth sending the man in my stead. No, Alice," Here, Aro glanced at Alice one final time, his crimson eyes a striking contrast of cold and scalding hot at the same time. "I will not."