I was in the middle of an inferno.

It was the only way I could even come close to describing the pain I was in. All consuming, blazing fire raged through every fibre of my being.

Surely this is what Christians meant when they envisioned burning in hell.

Every cell that made up my body blazed with searing pain, a pain that I was certain would never end.

They'd said that turning into a vampire hurt, but this wasn't anything close to what I'd imagined.

I didn't have any sense of time, had no idea how long I was writhing around in pain for. I luckily never screamed, though I easily could have. I wasn't aware of anything that was happening in the real world around me.

Eventually, the pain started subsiding, beginning to fade from my extremities. It felt like it was all gathering into my chest, one final push of venom that would finally stop my heart. I was becoming more aware, hearing footsteps and faint, far-off voices. It sounded like someone else was still screaming, too.

The pain receded further, replaced with a dry sensation in my throat that was almost as bad as the burning had been.

I felt my heartbeat race faster and faster, until it stopped with a final, ominous thud.

I opened my eyes, looking around frantically. I was still in the castle, in the room Jane had led me to before she'd bitten me. Lucia let out a scream, then quieted. She laid still for a few moments, but snapped up just as I had. She looked at me, as terrified and confused as I must have been.

"They're awake," someone - Jane, I thought, though her voice had a more musical tone to my new vampire ears - outside the room said.

"Excellent," Heidi replied. "I've got a few snacks for them."

With that, the doors opened. Before we could race through them, about half-a-dozen people were thrown in the room with us. They screamed, terrified at the sight of us.

The dryness in my throat swelled as I caught the scent of the humans cowering near the door they had just been pushed through. The smell was sweet, all their scents mixing in together. I'd never smelled anything like it, and my thirst quickly overruled any hesitation I might have had.

I jumped across the room without even thinking about it, landing on one of the men. The rest screamed, running away from us. I heard Lucia snarl and collide with another one of them as I sunk my teeth into my first victims neck and drank.

The blood was an immediate relief, making the dryness disappear. It was gone all too quickly. With a frustrated growl, I discarded the corpse and settled on another human who was futilely attempting to escape the room. I quickly drained two more.

Lucia had drained two, leaving only one more. The man was whimpering, cowering by the dais. "Please," he begged. His voice was barely a whisper, but it sounded clear as day to me.

We lunged for him at the same time.

The hairs on the back of my arms prickled, sensing the threat of the other new vampire encroaching on my prey. I snarled, earning a growl in return. I was between Lucia and the man, who was now screaming. I bared my teeth again, warning her to back off. She rushed forward, wanting to take the last human for myself. I collided into her, slamming her across the room. She hit one of the pillars in the middle of the room and fell to the floor.

I was on the man before she could make another move.

Jane, Chelsea, and Alec entered the room once they heard we were done. Chelsea carried two sets of light grey robes.

I took them in, seeing them for the first time with my new eyes. Everything seemed so much sharper, enhanced than it had when I was human. I wondered what I looked like? I looked down, examining my arms and hands. They were much more pale than they had been, and all the scratches and scars they had once held had been wiped away, cleared up by the venom.

"Welcome to the volturi," Jane said in the same musical voice I had recognized from earlier. Chelsea gave Lucia and I each a robe, which we donned eagerly.

Something else seemed off about everyone else now too. Everyone in the room had a colour swirling around them. Jane's was dark and cloudy, matching Alec's perfectly. I couldn't help but notice it was precisely the shade of the cloaks they wore - their loyalty to the Volturi went deep. Heidi had a lovely, mellow beige tone surrounding her. It radiated calm and beauty, which I supposed fit her nicely. I did notice flecks of the dark gray radiating from Jane and Alec within her colour, too.

I looked over to Lucia. She had a dark blue colour, reminding me of the colour of the deep sea. I wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Does everyone always have those colours around them?" I asked. "Woah."

My voice sounded completely different than I remembered. It was strong, clear and musical, though it was nowhere near as high-pitched as Janes had been.

"Colours?" Jane asked. "No, we don't see colours around us. What do you see?"

"You and Alec are dark gray, like your cloaks."

She squinted, looking confused. "And? What does that mean?"

"It means you're loyal to the Volturi down to your very core. Nothing would shake it."

Jane smiled, looking delighted with my response. "We've never had an aura seer before," she commented. "Aro will be pleased."

"Are we going to see him?"

"Not yet," Alec replied. "We brought in these suckers so you could get your thirst under control, but you're going to want to hunt again soon. I bet you're already thirsty again."

I assessed. There was a little dryness creeping into my throat, but not anywhere near as bad as it was when I first woke up.

I got distracted again, now fascinated by the tapestries that hung behind the dais. I could make out each thread in them, every subtle difference in colour. "Pay attention," Jane snapped, bringing our attention back to us.

"You can't hunt in the city, of course but we will show you the tunnel through the castle that leads outside of the city."

I only need to be shown it once - my memory was now perfect, and I would be able to memorize the complicated path through the castle with no problem.

They set us off with a warning to be discrete, and to return once we were done.