Chapter Fifteen

Insurance

Aro's hand wasn't as cold as she remembered it. His grip was tighter, though. It was clear he was trying to assert some kind of dominance over her, communicating clearly just how far below him she was.

His eyelids fluttered shut.

For a whole minute, they all stood and stared at him, waiting for something to happen.

Then, he opened his eyes and smiled. Somehow, it was a different expression from before. False. Even as a human, she would have been able to tell that he was displeased.

"I have a unique ability, Lena," Aro said. "With just a single touch, I am given access to every thought, memory and feeling someone has ever had."

Lena kept her eyes locked on him. His words frightened her. Had he discovered something he disapproved of? Lena had fantasised about avenging her family and herself countless times. She thought about tearing him apart, and lighting his body on fire. She thought awful, horrible, traitorous things she knew she shouldn't think about her creator. Her body was repulsed by it now that she stood here, looking him in the eye.

Did he know?

A stupid question. Of course he did.

Her gaze darted to his guards. As ineffectual as they seemed, she knew they had to be capable of something. They wouldn't be here if they weren't. As Alistair said, Aro didn't keep second-bests.

"Truthfully, I am quite disappointed."

She dared to breathe the air necessary to speak. "Why?"

"You were promising, but it seems your talents have not developed since your transformation." He tilted his head, and let out a tiny noise of displeasure. "I had such high hopes for you, too."

She frowned.

A part of her - the primitive part of her which awoke after she died, the part which willed her to bend to Aro - was full of self-hatred. To think that she disappointed her creator was agonising.

But another part of her - maybe the only sliver of humanity she had left - was furious. He killed her. He justified it with a desire to unleash some hidden talent, but she knew it was meant to serve him, whatever it was.

None of this was done for her benefit.

She wanted to ask - demand - why he did this. She wanted to know what was so promising about her, why he decided to sink his teeth in her neck and ruin her life.

The words wouldn't find her.

"No matter," he said, then turned to Carlisle. "The Volturi will be keeping a close eye on the situation. I would hate for it to escalate beyond this. I imagine it would be quite unfavourable"-his eyes swept over the Cullens, and settled on Lena-"for all parties involved."

He pulled his hood up, turned on his heel, and walked away. When he was some paces away, he raised a pale hand in the air and signalled his guards to follow. They didn't so much as have to look to know they were being summoned. Their red eyes passed over each of them, before they spun and followed their master into the fog.

Was that it?

Was that really the end?

Lena glared at the three retreating figures. Her eyes lingered on the man standing in the middle, on Aro. How could he walk away from her like that? He killed her. He sought her out, attacked her, hid her body for days. He left her there to die.

For what? Some stupid gift he thought would benefit him. For some talent that she didn't even possess. He took everything from her - her family, her home, her heartbeat - on the off chance that she would be of use to him.

He turned her against her will, and now he was abandoning her.

Anger as a vampire was different than it was as a human. When she breathed, when her heart still beat, rage was hot. It was a fire that spread through her limbs and settled in her fists. She drove them into pillows, willing the heat to leave her. Screamed.

Rage as a vampire was ice. It was cold and calculating, and it froze her in that one moment - the very second her heart stopped completely, and her eyes fluttered open in that field of wheat. That was the start of it, the beginning of everything.

She would be trapped there for the rest of time if she didn't do something.

"Let's go back to the house," Carlisle said.

She ignored him, and launched herself forwards with a loud snarl.

"Lena!"

Rosalie's nails scratched at her skin as she tried to grab her, but Lena was just out of reach. She twisted her body away from her, and rushed towards Aro.

He turned, along with his henchmen. They made no move to approach, but stood in the mist, watching. His guards looked stern, as they always did, but Aro was smiling.

Aro was smiling.

Someone's arms wrapped around her, their grip like steel. She hissed and twisted, boots slipping in the mud, but her captor was unrelenting.

"Lena, stop it," Jasper said. "They'll kill you."

She didn't care. Nothing mattered more to her than this. She wanted to hear the crack that would echo through the field when she snapped Aro's neck and tore his head from his body.

It would be a sound she would never forget.

The others were approaching. She heard their footfalls, Carlisle's soothing voice telling her to relax. She would be in trouble if they caught up to her and Jasper. She wouldn't be able to fight them all off, if they worked together.

She snarled again, and twisted in Jasper's arms. He kept his grip on her, but she managed to free one of her arms. She grabbed two of his fingers and bent them backwards. They ripped from his hand, and his hold slackened.

She would not let the opportunity pass her by.

She dropped his fingers, and slipped from his arms. Sprinted towards Aro, feet slipping on the wet grass.

Was it a look of pride or pity on his face now? Lena could never be sure. The smarting pain of rejection persisted, but she couldn't tell if it was fresh.

"Lena!"

The guards braced themselves. They stepped out in front of Aro. Lowered their weight, and hissed. The boy held his hands out, and an ominous black mist seeped from his palms like smoke.

Lena didn't know what it was, and she imagined it wouldn't be pleasant to find out. This must have been his gift - this reason Aro kept him. Frightening, but not enough to make her stop.

She continued forwards, unfazed. Told herself she could handle two vampires. Even if Aro joined in the fight, she was determined enough to come out the victor. She was sure of it.

She made it halfway across the meadow when someone tackled her from the side. Their bodies collided with a thunderous boom. She was swept up into the air with the force, and travelled a hundred or so metres before her back hit the trunk of a tree and she dropped to the wet earth.

The tree groaned, splintered, and fell, barely missing the two of them.

Lena growled and fought against the mass which pinned her down. Her attacker's arms latched around her, pulling her flush against their body. Distance was dangerous. It gave her an opening. Whoever this was also knew it.

"Let me go!" she snarled. Her voice was not at all like her own anymore.

She slipped her hands into their hair and pulled. Hard. Her assailant offered up a vicious growl. One calloused hand left her body to grab hers. Twisted her wrist, the movement sharp.

Lena felt the skin give way strangely beneath the iron grip.

She gasped, and looked at her arm. A dozen fractures ran along the flesh, as if she were a cracked statue.

Lena didn't know she could break like that.

Then, she was fighting again. Twisting under the weight which held her down in the mud, she sought out skin close enough to her mouth to bite. She lacked physical skill, lacked training, lacked clear thought - all things the vampire holding her down seemed to have in abundance. It didn't matter that she was a newborn, and was incredibly strong. She was clumsy and panicked, and it was just as bad as if she were fighting intoxicated, or blind, or with no arms.

Her assailant did not relent. Their arms wrapped around her again, restraining her in a steely grip. They leaned closer to her. Lena hissed, expecting a jaw to clamp down on her shoulder or throat. Teeth did not graze her skin, but stubble, which scratched the shell of her ear.

"Have some sense, woman."

Lena froze. Her joints locked. Her muscles went rigid.

Alistair.

When she was still for a few seconds, he pulled away from her, assuming the fight was sapped from her body. His eyes, bright crimson, carefully appraised her face. There wasn't an inch of skin spared or neglected.

How was he here? He left. He ran away.

It didn't make sense.

He stood, and pulled her to her feet.

Immediately, the Cullens swarmed them. Emmett and Jasper stood next to her, undoubtedly intent to stop her if she were to try the same thing again.

Waves of calm washed over her when Aro and his guards approached them. She glanced at Jasper. His jaw was set. She knew now that this was not a display of kindness. He was trying to prevent the situation from escalating for the rest of them.

The three Volturi members came to stand opposite her. Alistair tensed beside her.

"I overlooked your thoughts of treason, Lena," Aro said, "but there is a difference in thinking to commit a crime and attempting it."

Was she looking at the man who would kill her twice? She glimpsed his anger bubbling away in his eyes. Any minute, he would grab her by the throat and execute her.

No. He wouldn't dirty his hands with her twice. He only did it the first time because he thought she was worth something.

He would get one of his guards to kill her for him.

Coward.

Aro raised his eyebrows. "Are you not going to apologise, at the very least?"

"Sorry," she said.

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't trust you won't make the same mistake again. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to take some sort of… insurance."

His eyes travelled to Alice. He smiled, and held out his hand.

Alice hesitated. She looked at Jasper, her husband. A question marred her features, a quiet agony burning under her skin.

He said nothing. Nodded, just once.

Alice stepped forward, and took Aro's hand.

"Smart girl."

"Surely there's another way," Carlisle said. "Lena is only young. She doesn't understand."

"It is this, or execution," Aro said.

Carlisle lowered his head.

"Fuck," Jasper said under his breath. He ran a hand through his hair. Lena felt his agitation at the edges of her mind, pulsing incessantly. Prickly, the tips of a dozen needles probing at her skull.

Lena blinked. She could twist this to her advantage.

She stepped forwards, and a forest of arms darted out to grab her. "Take me."

"You?" Aro looked her over. "I don't think you understand. You stand with this coven, and slight me. They all bear your burden."

Lena narrowed her eyes. "This started because of me. Because you wanted me."

"Yes," he said, "and now I do not."

He turned, and signalled his guards to follow. They did, this time with Alice in tow.

Lena watched, helpless once more, as he left her behind.

This wasn't fair. This wasn't how this was supposed to end.

She looked at Carlisle, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. Neither would Jasper, or Emmett, or any of them.

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