Your voice. It's different. You're different."
Jane looked up from the book she was reading and was face to face with the eyes of her twin. Alec was staring at her with an unreadable expression but the blonde haired vampire knew he wanted to talk. Alec glanced around the room, the elite guards shared a common space and Demetri was by the corner.
Alec gave the tracker one look and he immediately understood. Demetri made his way out of the room, muttering up an excuse about dealing with a junior guard. The twins were left alone in the room.
"Took you long enough to notice?" Jane said plainly as he pulled a chair next to her. Alec faced his sister with an indifferent expression.
"Associating yourself with him was a mistake, Jane."
That was okay, he knew that she could be foolish. It may be better for her, to finally learn. It might be a way for her to snap out of her foolish dreams.
"You are not in love with him, sister. You are in pain, stop fooling yourself that you are in love with him."
Funny how an infatuation turns into a bad dream? A nightmare perhaps?
When she spent decades chasing after him. Decades when his sister stayed by their master's side. So many years she spent to be the apple of his eye. It seems to be romantic, amusing even.
Alec should have seen the signs. He could have prevented the sight in front of him. He had never seen her so empty.
Dead. He could have sworn he made the wrong metaphor, they were dead physically.
"What has gotten into you to still pursue him?"
Jane closed the book that she was reading. Alec had a chance to glimpse and he saw that it was a compilation of folklore tales. It was quite ironic for her to read such tales with happy endings when she was the one suffering herself.
Was it so she could escape the reality she was in?
"Mother used to tell us stories. A princess in a faraway land falls for a prince. A mermaid who falls for a human. A lady falls for a beast and turns out he was a prince all along?"
Jane chuckles softly as her eyes traveled to the multiple paintings in their shared area. Her smile then vanishes when her gaze meets her brother.
"Do you know what they all have in common, dear brother?"
Alec shook his head even if he knew what the answer was.
"They made it seem that love was easy. You love someone and they will love you back. They instilled a thought that everyone would have a happy ending. They never prepare you for the scenario that…" she trailed off as her expression changed to a pained one. "Young people fall in love with the wrong people sometimes."
Jane suffered for it.
For a second, he saw her as someone humane. Alec saw his sister as a fragile human being. She made mistakes, but that was alright. His dedication to his sister was beyond her flaws. In the end, it might have been a bit better for her.
For his sister to finally learn the moral of the story she dared to pursue herself.
"It seems highly unlikely of you to be out of the Volterra." Felix musters up as he attempted to remedy the silence between his companion. The blonde vampire remained silent all throughout their endeavor. He surely noticed Jane spending most of her time away from the castle.
Jane had not uttered a single word since they left Volterra.
What was once her solace had become something she avoided religiously like a plague. The three kings had no say on what she wanted to do. Marcus remained silent and let her do what she wants. Caius encouraged the missions, saying that it would help her gain higher control. And Aro was Aro.
He gave her all the support he can.
The three kings may have turned a blind eye to what the blonde vampire felt, but it could not escape the burly vampire's eyes. Felix knew she was suffering from the raging storm that nestled deep in her mind.
"If you are hurting, just tell me." Jane stops in her tracks. Her companion was relieved to have finally caught her attention. Her gaze travelled towards him and he did not need for her to say anything.
Her eyes looked tired and weary. Pain was visible amongst the red hue of her eyes.
"I do not know what it feels like. I wanted to understand how you felt." He brazenly grabs her wrist. "I'm on your side, Jane. You are not in this alone."
The once high and mighty look on her face was replaced with a vulnerable one. The burly vampire knew that this was the woman he loved.
He never did stop loving her nonetheless.
"You once asked me if i am willing to do anything for you…" he states. "Then i am willing to leave everything behind for you. Even if it is to run away with you."
Jane smiled faintly and let out a not much needed sigh.
"I was not thinking clearly that night. Thank you for coming to your senses that fateful night. Or else i may have committed a grave error."
Yet Felix knew she was lying. She loved someone, yet it had to waste. The blonde vampire was just too much infatuated with him to let everything go.
And here he was trying to fix the broken pieces of her.
As the burly vampire tipped her chin to kiss her, a foreign scent came to their senses. Felix grabbed her tiny wrist as he stood in front of her. He pulled her closer towards him.
Both of them knew something evil was lurking in the bushes,
Or even in the trees.
"I know you do not like it when i tell you what to do. Can you obey me just once? If want to make it back alive to Volterra."
"I swear all of these missions make no sense." Didyme grumbled under her breath as the Wives made their way down from their tower. She and Athenodora are both concerned. Sulpicia was clearly just tagging along with them.
"Do not grumble, dear sister. The damage has been done. She is already concious, do not worry." Athenodora said with a silky voice. They stopped short near the end of the corridor. Felix and Alec bowed upon seeing the three wives.
"Is it really?" Athenodora asks. Concern definitely was laced in her voice.
"It was a wolf that attacked us. It was quite feral and often attacked by pair. It could take down one of our kind single-handedly."
Athenodora's terrified gaze traveled towards Didyme who mirrored the same terrified eyes. The Volturi had once tried to annihilate the wolf's kind.
Yet a few slipped through.
Didyme slowly opened the door as the sight shook them to core. The raven haired vampire met the blonde's glassy gaze.
"I look terrible do i?" Jane asks quietly.
"Nothing time can heal, my dear." Athenodora was the first one to recover from the shock as she sat on the edge of the blonde vampire's bed.
The gashes on her arms remained fresh and unhealed. Didyme edged closer to the young blonde as she gently cupped her charge's face.
She was relieved Jane did not suffer too much.
"I was worried to death, you know?" Didyme attempts to lighten up the mood. She pushed the stray hair out of the blonde's forehead. "'No more missions, my dear. Do i have to put you on a leash so you are always with me?"
Jane chuckled weakly.
"Healing may take quite a while, my dear. We will be taking our leave so you rest comfortably." Didyme excuses herself as they let her rest. The wives journeyed back to their tower.
"You are worried for nothing, Didyme." Sulpicia voiced out as she remained quiet throughout the entire affair. "She's just a guard, something replaceable."
Didyme stopped in her tracks. She faced her fellow raven-haired vampire with a stoic expression. Athenodora can already sense the tension building up from one another.
Didyme may have worn a stoic expression, but the fair haired vampire knew she was already seething in anger.
"I would appreciate it even more if you hold your tongue, Sulpicia." Didyme did not bother to hide the disgust in her tone. Athenodora stood guard if ever the two ladies would end up fighting. "Jane may be only a guard in your eyes as you are a Volturi Wife. Yet she is more valuable than you are."
"Didyme! Watch you words!" Athenodora attempted to pacify them both. Didyme's steel gaze travelled from Sulpicia towards the fair-haired vampire. Didyme let out a sigh that was not much needed.
"Let's go, Athenodora."
She spared Sulpicia one last look before leaving.
"Figlia della luna." Aro began. "are human beings that transform into fearsome wolf-like creatures during the night and the fullest phase of the moon."
The Volturi had once dealt with the children of the moon during its earlier years. A pack once infiltrated the Volturi grounds and nearly killed the blond king. The Volturi knew the danger it posed to both humans and vampires alike. Two thousand years ago, they were annihilated.
"The children of the moon only change form at night. While in their werewolf form, they lose their human consciousness. They are feral rather than rational. Which explains how they attacked one of us without a second thought." The raven-haired vampire's eyes drifted towards where Jane sat with the rest of the Elite Guard. Her eyes remained downcast to the ground.
The raven-haired vampire did not have a chance to talk to her after what transpired. He let her recover from the attack before attempting to converse with her.
Silence then filled the room as the raven haired vampire did not utter a word. Seeing how Aro was distracted, Caius rolled his eyes and continued with what was left.
"In their form, they have heightened strength and speed that make them both deadly and difficult to kill." Caius drawls. "They do not entirely resemble actual wolves: Their forelegs are more powerful than their hind legs, and they still have usable hands with opposable thumbs. In addition, their stance is more upright, making their movement somewhat ape-like, rather than entirely canine."
Aro had come to his senses and motioned Caius that he will take it from here. Caius could only roll his eyes and chuckle inwardly.
"Not even married for a month, you are already smitten with someone else." He grumbled under his breath that only Aro heard. The raven haired vampire paid no mind to his fellow king's issues.
"Vampires and the Children of the Moon cannot exist for they are each other's destructibility. They are each other's natural enemy. For them to co-exist in this same world, can drive us to near extinction with their feral traits." He looked around the crowd as his face turned serious. "History will repeat itself once more, we will hunt them down."
Once everyone had filed out of the room, only the Elite Guard remained.
"Alec will lead the troops to the north. Demetri will take west as Felix will take south. The whole Volturi will infiltrate East, as that is their lair." Aro instructs the Elite Guard. "Jane, please remain."
Caius then left with the remaining Elite guard to discuss battle strategies. The blond vampire had gone all out with his battle mode. Aro was left with the blonde vampire.
"It must have been scary for you, to be in their clutches." Aro attempted to start a conversation. "I think it is best if you remain at home for a while."
Jane nodded in agreement. Her eyes remained downcast to the ground as he spoke to her.
"I did not have a chance to speak with you. If there are thoughts within your head that I am not concerned with your welfare, please get rid of them." He lifted her chin with hesitation. "Talk to me, my dear…"
Jane stiffened as she felt his arms wrap around her frame. She found herself reciprocating his embrace. For a split second, she fooled herself that there was longing, passion and all other emotions that she wanted to experience.
'You are confusing me, Master.'
Those were the thoughts that echoed in her mind. The mind reader instantly felt guilt for she deceived herself that everything was a lie. Thoughts of his intentions surfaced in her mind. The blonde did not know how to react in this state they were in.
The raven-haired king smiled as a surfacing thought revealed her real feelings after all. Perhaps she did not hate him as much as he think she did after all.
AN:
its been a while since my last update. School has been keeping me busy to do my usual weekly updates. i am currently on my christmas vacation so my updates might flood a bit.