Chapter One
The first meeting
The marble room was worlds apart from my safe windowsill. Knowing the only thing separating Christopher and me from the tense scene was a right turn and a few marble pillars made me feel uncomfortable. I came because of Chris, Chris came because of Marcus and Marcus was obligated to attend.
There was no escape from the scent of the human guest. It was the usual scent of a human, but much, much sweeter and alluring. It made me sick to my stomach. The idea of drinking her blood… I tried to focus on the conversation happening only a few meters away.
Aro seemed to be testing the human girl's ability to block their gifts. Neither Chris nor I knew much about the girl, but the two vampires with her were another story. Edward and Alice Cullen; Aro couldn't help but remind our small sub-coven about the power of the Olympic Coven. He was infatuated with them. Not only did they have strong bonds as a family rather than a coven. They were also in possession of three gifted vampires; one with telepathy, one with precognition and one with pathokinesis. Two of the three were standing right in this room.
The moment the familiar sound of agony caused by Jane reached my ears I felt the need to close my eyes. My body wouldn't stop shivering. A familiar hand drew my focus back to where I was standing. I looked up to meet the red eyes of Chris. Without speaking he asked if everything was okay. I nodded, but couldn't keep back a dry swallow. Without hesitation, Chris drew me even closer. With one hand on my back and the other on my head, I felt a certain level of comfort. These moments were rare. Most of the coven despised me, but with Chris being my maker and Marcus my caretaker I had been content for almost a year.
The meeting around the corner seemed to come to an end. The three guests were being guided to a separate room to wait out the day and with it came a call from Marcus. Hand in hand the two of us walked towards him. All the others seemed to have returned to either their chambers or their previous work. With the room empty, Chris let go of my hand and rushed forward. I wasn't able to hold back a sign when the two started their little ritual of looking each other up and down to check if the other one was all right.
"So, how did it end?" Chris asked. The scent of the girl still hung in the air. Marcus looked neither sad nor happy; the second head of the Volturi had always been hard to read.
"She may live," he announced. "Alice Cullen assured Aro that the girl will be turned into a vampire eventually." I let out a sigh which immediately led to Marcus's focus being put on me. There was a 'but' to the situation. "As you probably already know, they are waiting in a room until the sunsets. Aro requested that you take care of anything they may need, Eve." The teensy bit of happiness I felt for the result faded. I couldn't help but see it as yet another way for Aro to torture me.
"Can't Gianna take care of them? It is her job." Chris frowned. Marcus shook his head, explaining that Aro said Gianna was to 'busy' and the guests would probably prefer Eve over anyone else in the coven. Chris looked apologetic at me.
"It's fine. I can manage." I said, straightening my posture. "I will just have to hold my breath. Easy peasy."
Armoured with a dry pair of jeans and a tray with various kinds of food, I made my way over to the guest room. Before knocking I took the time to take a deep breath, not that I needed it, and tried to focus my thoughts. In there a mind reader and a fortune teller would be waiting. That would exclude my option of thinking about my relationship with the coven, Chris and Marcus, the incidents that happened during my time as a newborn and the loss of my human memories. All those subjects were taboo from here on out.
But before I could even start clearing my mind and composing myself, the door opened. If it was possible for a vampire, my face would have probably been bright red. The male stood before me, looking serious and tense, but with a twist of amusement. It took me a second to realize the most important detail about his gift. His gift wasn't the same as Aro's; no contact, just range. I had unintentionally introduced myself with my most intimate secrets.
He just kept staring at me. Or was I the one staring? Emotions ran through my body and my mind, even though I was a vampire, didn't seem able to keep up. At least the one with pathokinesis wasn't here to sense my bundle of emotions. What was I supposed to do? Run? Scream? Throw myself dramatically of the tower clock like Chris always joked?
"Calm down." The soft velvet voice was commanding rather than soothing. Again I was staring, but with more focus, more attention. His stance was both controlled and protective but his eyes betrayed that he was scared to a certain amount. I shouldn't assume, but it had probably something to do with the scent of his mate; the scent that filled the room and that reminded me of the disgusting feeling I had a mere hour ago.
"I'm sorry. I can leave everything out here if it makes you more comfortable?" I suggested. Before he could speak his head turned to the other vampire in the room. The female looked disapproving. Instead of waiting for his reaction she walked to the door, pushing him lightly aside and gently pulled me into the room.
"We are sorry as well." Her voice chimed. "Edward is still a bit tense because of what happened." I was sure she wasn't the empath, but she had seemed to change the atmosphere in the room. Even the human girl, who had been sitting on the bed since the door was opened, seemed to relax a little. I managed to finally compose myself, using one of Chris's techniques and turning my posture to 'secretary-style'. I was sent here by the Volturi. The one thing I needed to do right now was my menial job.
The room was pretty standard. No windows, a two-person bed, a small table for dinner, a leather couch and an empty bookcase. I set down the tray with what would probably be the human girl's dinner.
I took my first good look at the human girl. I wasn't surprised to see her pale complexion; she was probably still scared for her life. I couldn't blame her; I knew from my own experience that the leaders of the Volturi were intimidating. But she didn't look scared. In fact she looked straight at me, her eyes filled with curiosity and slight awkwardness. Did I look strange to her? I looked at her figure, hoping the jeans I brought wouldn't be too big. Gianna had had the honor of guessing her size.
"These are for you," I laid them on the chair next to the table, not wanting to get to close. "I hope the meal will be enough for the time being. If you need else anything or have any questions don't hesitate to call me." Turning around I was already making my way over to the door until the girl called out.
"What is your name?" she asked. My surprise made me turn towards her. Not only hadn't I expected to get a question from her, but the sound of a new voice entering my memories was nice for a change. It wasn't the usual silk voices of the vampire in the coven or the I-try-to-sound-alluring voices of the new female secretaries.
"Eve."
I found a not so conspicuous Chris hiding around the corner in the hall.
"Everything okay?" he asked, turning around the corner when I approached him. I nodded in response.
"I brought her dinner and a dry pair of pants," I explained what happened just a few minutes ago. My eyes wavered to his and I noticed the bright red. It was probably another reason why the male of the three guests was so tense. The coven had had their dinner right after the meeting with the small group.
"You know that was not what I meant." He reacted angrily. I gave him a small smirk, but just before I could give him the answer he wanted a voice from back down the hall interrupted us.
"Eve? Would you mind helping us?" The female voice rang. The trio was more demanding than I expected. Chris grabbed my arm, just as I was about to turn around. Even though it was probably against the Volturi's and Marcus's wishes, something told me that I wouldn't be entering that room alone.
"What is he doing here?" The male vampire asked, immediately placing himself between us and girl. Chris in response did the same.
"I'm here to prevent her from doing something unnecessary," Chris responded.
"We just need bandages." The male threw back which made Chris scoff.
"Those are definitely not going to help with the scent. I could smell her from three galleries away." Chris gestured to the door. With the loose sentences from the two squabbling vampires I was able to figure out the situation. Within a mere second I was standing right next to the human.
"You're hurt." It wasn't a question that left my mouth. It was a statement. I figured I had just entered dangerous territory, but the female vampire held the mate at bay. I had only been in a similar situation one time before and that hadn't had a positive end. On the other hand this was a different situation. This one I could work with.
I crouched down, setting myself lower than the girl's eye level. Before I did anything else I first checked with the male vampire. I noticed his dark hard stare slowly disappearing from his face; his focus was on my mind. I didn't have time to show him what I was planning. I needed my mind clear or it might not work.
"Can I see?" The hesitation from the girl was expected. No human should trust a vampire. I noticed the quick moment between the girl and the vampires standing behind me before the girl eventually nodded. Eve closed the distance. The rip in the girl's jeans made it easy to see the now obvious grazes on her knees. In favour of not puke, I decided to hold my breath and fight the urge to use the unneeded human habit of breathing. Now that I was this close, the scent was even stronger.
I slowly put my left hand on top of the right scraped knee and sought with my eyes a place for my other hand. I decided on the left ankle; it was further from the torso than her thigh, but it seemed more appropriate and respectful. The girl shivered from the cold my hands gave off. I focused my mind and after a few seconds I let go of her right knee end turned towards the left to start the ritual over. When I finished the other one as well I looked at my result and nodded satisfied.
"Any scrapes left?" I asked, turning my head to the three waiting behind me. Chris shook his head, signalling that he didn't smell anything off anymore.
"Come." He took my hand and pulled me out of the room, before anyone else was able to respond. Without words he picked me up and carried me with vampire speed to our room.
"You shouldn't have done that," I commented to the caring. Before Chris reacted he locked the door behind us, even making sure that the curtain from our one window was closed.
"Same goes for you." He patted beside him on the bed. I shrugged, placing myself on the bed and waited. It didn't take long.
I could feel the burning feeling of hunger swell up in my throat and the awful emotion that came with it. I did the only thing that I knew that helped. I bit down in my arm. My mind was taken back to the first time I used my powers; a wounded boy in the woods and the feeling of unquenchable thirst. The same feeling I had right now. It would slowly dissipate with time just like all the time I hungered or after drinking blood.
Chris responded like he did when I had a hard time. Clutching my small body against his while his back rested against the frame of the bed. Both his speed and strength were strong enough to keep me from escaping. He didn't try to remove my arm from my mouth. Hugging was the only thing a brother could do for a sister
After a few hours I finally seemed to calm down. Marcus had come by to tell us the guests had left and that Aro said I had taken good care of their guests. He had seemed like he wanted to stay but had decided against it after Chris told him to go.
"It was nice to see someone with the same eye colour for once," I said before both Chris and I returned to our usual schedule.
