"The prodigal son arrives."

There was no loud burst, kick through the entrance door that Vladimir seemed to expect. I hardly saw the door open before Alec was standing in front of it.

If he were a painting, you might have imagined he was waiting for weeds to grow. I had never seen Alec so unamused, so undistracted, so…numb as he examined the scene he'd entered. His gaze blatantly passed over where I stood, restrained by Travis. I could hardly tell if he recognised Travis, because the expression on his face remained unchanging.

With all of the irrational anger and emotion Alec had shown towards me and all his talk of keeping me safe, I'd expected a little more expression. I thought I'd seen him at his cruelest, at his most base predatory nature. Until this moment, I had no idea how wrong I was.

In all his observations, Alec didn't so much as glance at me.

A delayed spark in my chest informed me of the irrelevant hurt feelings that were a side effect of my humanity. Except Vladimir's smile faded slightly when he noticed Alec's lack of interest as well. He was using me to catch Alec off guard, that was the whole point of these dramatics. Alec knew this, of course, and denied his enemy the opportunity to gain any more of an upper hand than he already had.

With a false respect, Alec finally addressed his enemy. "Vladimir." A taste of the Alec I knew slipped in as he commented dryly, "Where's your uglier half?" Right. I'd forgotten about the other Romanian.

"It is underwhelming that Aro has not taught his brats any manners."

Finally, Alec's eyes scanned over me with discriminate care at an abhorrently leisured pace. Until they found my face, and even with my distance I could tell he'd zeroed in on the cut Vladimir had given me.

I pulled my hand back from Travis, nearly slamming my hand on the side of my eye. While I hadn't felt any more runaway drops of blood, I knew any cut on the face was highly susceptible to excessive bleeding. The more pressure I applied, the more likely I was to stay alive. Or so I convinced myself.

However, Travis reclaimed my wrist, pulling me closer to him. The move shifted my mate's attention to the man behind me.

"Saffiya."

Travis gave me a shake and I reluctantly answered softly, "Alec."

He spoke curtly, straightforward. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." A shadow cast itself over his face and he grimaced, realising that I couldn't answer his question any better than he could himself.

Alec's voice was stone, grey, empty…Commanding. "Release her."

Travis barked out a laugh, "not a chance, witch boy." To antagonise the Volturi member further, he pressed his nose to the back of my hair and breathed in my scent. I flinched but he had me locked in as he murmured in a strained voice, "she's gonna taste so good."

The prized Volturi member didn't dare attack. His powers moved too slowly, which Vladimir had accounted for. He was out of options.

As Travis visibly increased the pressure of his hand on my stomach. It was a reminder that I should be somewhat cautious about the area surrounding my ribs. Mainly, it occurred to me that if I didn't verbally claim any kind of pain, he might actually cause more damaging, albeit coincidental, harm. Even if he didn't particularly care whether he hurt me or not, I had to try.

Vladimir clicked his tongue. He gestured to his partner. "You are familiar with Travis? I promised him your mate, I hope you do not mind."

"I'll take good care of her." Travis' hand moved from my neck and down my side. Alec's once passive face grew less and less so as he could only watch. As much of an innuendo as it was intended to be, his rough nature and recent pettiness made me think he no longer had any intent to play with his food.

The comment pissed me off either way, so I responded in kind.

I grunted, swinging my elbow back into the boy and struggling harder against his hold. He released me immediately and I fell to the floor with a thunk. I rolled over to my back, ready to kick him or whatever I could manage to keep him away. Unfortunately, the move was purposeful, I realized, as he swiftly grabbed the back of each of my arms and pulled me up into nearly the same restraint. I let out a delayed, fabricated cry, but it convinced Travis of the human tolerance for pain and he did loosen his grip. Too soon for the fun to be over.

Alec had taken a step forward, but it was all he could do.

A deep rumble of laughter came from the eldest vampire "That is the problem with gifted vampires. They rely too much on their powers and not on their instinct, on the great power already bestowed upon us." There was something about the way he said this. As if he were speaking doubly. Alec's eyes caught mine.

"You should never have left your castle, Witch Boy." The Romanian vampire taunted him further, inching forward with his master plan. His lips were pulled back in a vindictive snarl. As composed as he was, he was desperate for his revenge.

Alec smirked at the fault in Vladimir's interests. "How far the great Romanian leader has fallen!" He proclaimed in a menacing tone, which built itself around a snide smile that I'd never seen on him before. One I could only identify as delight in the pure sadistic nature of the moment. Because even if Vladimir had the upper hand, the bitterness fuelling him was still quite prevalent. Too focused. "Too spineless to challenge his enemies head on. If your coven could see you now…"

I felt Travis' fingertips switch, but Vladimir gave him no signal. I was a little impressed. I would have already thrown something at the teenage vampire by now. The former was too distracted by Alec's taunt to attack second hand, but for some reason — somehow he held himself back. Then, it became obvious. He knew the perfect nerves to strike.

"It is a shame your devil sister could not join us." Alec growled a warning, one much more savage than he'd ever used with me. "She will have her turn. And I shall depict to her, the tale of her dear brother's demise. How he begged like the pathetic child he was…before you died."

A cry of anguish suddenly escaped past my lips, the sound surprising even me. Travis let his hold loosen enough that I nearly collapsed in his arms. My response delighted Vladimir, having received little feedback from Alec. Another grin slapped itself across his face as he seemed to remember he had me captive. I couldn't believe I could be so stupid.

"And of your dear, sweet, mate." He cherished the moment, grinning wildly. "I will tell of how I burned her alive in the fire of your ashes."

That did it.

Alec launched himself at Vladimir with a ravenous roar. Vladimir, however, had prepared for this and the two became a blur as they managed to manoeuvre a fight in the small space. I might've guessed they were evenly matched, but every time I blinked it seemed the battle had completely flipped.

They seemed to freeze once Alec gained the upper hand. No sooner had this happened, however, was my shoulder was shoved forwards. A gust of air blew past me and an instant later there was a crash that had me grabbing for the nearest surface.

I was free, but Travis had intercepted Alec. He barrelled into him and sent them both flying into the corner wall of the car. The train shook, but the vampires paid no mind. Travis joined Vladimir, both angled towards the corner where Alec was recovering from the hit. The twin stepped out of the new dent in the wall, matching his combatants in a crouch.

My eyelids fluttered as the three disappeared into a blizzard of motion. Alec would easily take the upper hand on Travis but each time he turned back, Vladimir met him with another vicious attack. Every time he got rid of one, the other was already coming at him with full force.

In under a minute it seemed Alec had managed to pin Travis down for good. A break that Alec tried taking advantage of to try and make a dash for me. Only, he had underestimated Travis's recovery time, because he never made it.

Alec's weakness betrayed him.

Travis had caught him round the neck, slamming him into the floor. Alec pulled him down, rolling back up to gain the upper hand. Alec was a superior fighter in comparison to the new vampire, but he was fighting alone. And Vladimir had a secret weapon.

An arm came around me from behind, securing my midsection. I gasped as an additional hand gripped my chin and roughly squeezed my jawbone.

I tried to move my body against him, exclaiming, "get off of me!"

"Enough." Alec and Travis both froze, spinning around to face us. Travis' mouth twisted, while Alec glowered with a furious intensity at Vladimir's hands. "Let him go."

Alec pushed off of Travis, and I could almost see the cogs of a clock working in his mind. Trying to figure out how the hell we would make it out of this, alive and well. If we even could. He tried to approach us again, but Vladimir gave a sharp tug on my head again.

"So long as I have her, you," he pointed a long, thin finger at Alec. "Are mine."

"If you hurt her—"

Vladimir scoffed. "On your knees, boy."

He shifted behind me and Travis responded to the silent communication immediately. Travis placed his hands on Alec's shoulders and heaved down on them, forcing Alec to take a single knee, and then another to the ground. Alec's head and shoulders fell forward, folding his body in half. Travis twisted his hand in the soft night of Alec's hair, using it as a handle and pulling Alec's body up to a suitable position.

Vladimir released my chin to brush my hair off the side of my neck. He inhaled lightly. "You do smell divine," he reaffirmed for me. As if I needed to hear about how my blood could open its' own restaurant.

Alec snarled with the veracity of a lion, swearing to his enemy. "I will rip you limb, from limb, from limb."

Vladimir, too eager to not partake in the domination of his enemy, undermined Alec's threat as he freed me. I was abandoned as he ran across the space to stand over Alec's kneeling form. Travis tugged Alec's head up to force him to acknowledge his new master. A sick grin appeared on his face. "I have waited far too long for this moment."

I had been released, yes, but my purpose was subject to an audience only role. I was entirely useless. In a mental panic, I threw rushed glances around the room. There had to be something I could do. The liquor bar might have had something, but it was much too far to even attempt. Short of breaking through the glass window and jumping out of a moving train, I was out of luck. Even with one of these options, what could I do against a pair of vampires dead set on killing us?

Whatever I had too. I'd made a promise. It was my turn to save him.

"You've lost, Witch." He leaned in, hissing into Alec's ear. "Your dear sister will die of a broken heart before I even touch her. Without their beloved, all-powerful witches, the house of Volterra will fall."

So, that was it. Break Alec to break Jane. Break the twins, and the whole damn operation falls apart. The Volturi was built on the siblings, after all. Aro would give anything, anyone for them. That much was clear to me in my growing time with the coven. Vladimir seemed to believe the same. Still, there was a lack of uniqueness, a familiarity about the plan. I just couldn't…

"Time to say goodbye." Instead of taking over the deed himself, Vladimir had decided to observe his vengeance. Hands off, just watching. A pattern, it appeared. Travis' hand gripped Alec's forehead and tugged his head up. The move forced Alec to stare directly at me. He gritted his teeth, now searching for my eyes desperately.

I had become terrified by the prospect of the afterlife. If I died, I now knew I could be changed to become one of them. But when vampires died…were they just gone? If Alec died in this moment, was there such a place as heaven for him to be? Would this be the last time I—

God, where was Prosper? He had to be coming for us. He had to know — somehow.

I choked back my fear. "What good is it? To kill him when you could hurt him just as he hurt you…by killing me."

Vladimir smirked at my pathetic attempt at a distraction. He waved me off. Apparently, my role was completed. "You, human. Pose no threat to me."

Travis readjusted his hold on Alec to not be seconds away from dislocating his head from his body. He was much more intrigued by my offer than Vladimir was. Still, I felt my own body relax. I tore my eyes away from Alec's, which were begging me to shut up, but I couldn't. I wouldn't. Not if I wanted to keep him alive.

"Maybe not now. But I promise you, I will be. And I will never stop hunting you."

"I will just have to kill you as well, then, won't I." The arrogance of vampires could never be over-exaggerated, I decided.

However, I was caught off guard as Travis challenged his maker. "No! He needs her."

Vladimir hissed sharply at him. "Hold your tongue." But the cat was out of the bag. The Romanian rolled his eyes, exhibiting an exasperation for Travis that I unfortunately, related to.

He turned on Travis, who immediately succumbed under his elder's scowl. Coward. "He has righteous plans for the Volturi, but I have waited nearly two thousand years for my revenge." His muddy, red eyes now stared at me. A morbidly sentimental colouring joined his warning, "Vengeance has a habit of slipping through your fingers all too often. If you want the girl, you take her. Now."

And that's when it happened.

A crash. An inhuman roar. And suddenly, quick winds whipped my skin.

In all this time it took me to open my eyes, I had been transported behind the bar. I landed on the ground, steadied by gentle hands on each of my arms. Crimson orbs stared back at me and my hand went flying to my neck. But when I pulled it away, there was no blood staining my hand.

In that second, my protector disappeared with one quick ghost of a word. "Stay".

And I swear I would've. But within what must have been only a few deep breaths time, Travis's body was thrown against the wall at the opposite end of the bar. I watched him drop to the ground with a crash. He blinked. Our eyes met.

Travis sent a devious grin to whoever had thrown him and I scrambled to my feet, stumbling backwards out from behind the bar. With the crunch of glass, he folded into a blur that came straight at me. I could hear Prosper's voice shouting out Alec's name.

There was a grasp to my shirt that tugged me forward. The rip of a thin fabric swallowed my ears as the pale hand of the attacker was quickly thrown away from me with a much harder force.

The blurs stilled.

Alec had Travis pinned once again, his hand on the neck of the new vampire. Travis struggled under him before he sighed, dramatically, giving in with a false laugh.

"This seems familiar. Are we roleplaying?"

Without warning, Alec wasted no time. "Shut up." Travis' head was slammed back into the ground with a snarl from my mate. "How did you find us?"

The young vampire's exterior was harder than when he was human. Although, I suppose the inability to create tears helped his facade. "How does anyone find anything?"

Alec's arm swung up and his fist came crashing down on Travis' shoulder. A shout and a grunt accompanied a crack as the shoulder lost some of its' form. I was grateful for the long sleeve shirt our enemy donned.

The Volturi member gripped said shirt and lifted the owner's head closer to him. A raspy, near demonic growl vibrated from his throat. "It is not a question of if I will kill you, but rather, how much you will suffer before you beg me to do so."

There was no attempt made to hide his threat from me. To keep this exhibit unassociated with my more idealised opinion of him. He had no patience for his powers. Alec was rabid and there was no Jane this time to pull his leash.

I doubted Travis even processed Alec's icy threat as a goofy smile appeared on his face. "You can kill me, but no matter what you do — the Volturi will fall. He has seen it."

"Razin," I whispered with wide eyes. The name felt more ominous than ever.

He seemed pleased by his true master's infamy. "A war is coming. And you, old friends, are on the wrong side of it."

Provoked, Alec lifted Travis to his feet and slammed the man against the wall. "Where is he?"

"No idea," Travis scoffed despite Alec's clear willingness to follow through on his threats. Though as he realized this, he added quickly, "he's got these bases. They're littered with newborns and he checks up on 'em a lot."

Alec huffed, "we are well aware of this."

"Look, I don't know where he is or how to find him. He just shows up places. Kinda creepy." Travis turned his head to the side to acknowledge me. My arms were crossed tightly over my stomach, a physical admittance of insecurity. Apparently, it was written all over me;

"God, that face. You could sell her in a candy shop."

Alec had warned him enough. "You will not speak to her." In a seamless transition, his forehead uncreased and his lips behaved oppositely of his emotion. The boyhood beauty, similar to the tactic of his sister, distracted from the true nature of the change. I couldn't see the so-called mist, but I had memorised the intricacies of his gift well enough to recognize its' initiation.

Travis' mouth fell open with a small cry, confirming my theory. His eyes began darting back and forth, up and down, searching through an endless sea of emptiness. Stories informed me that Alec always took the light first.

"I can't see!" He writhed against Alec's hold to no avail, crying out as a crack sounded from his other forearm.

The roughed up silk in Prosper's voice joined in from behind. "Tell us everything you know, and we will release you."

"You think I'm stupid?"

Prosper continued, his voice steady as a rod. "No. But I would not be so eager to lose another of my senses." Travis' eyes widened, but his irises continued to search for any glimpse of a respite from the darkness.

Travis stuttered his leader's secrets. "All I know is: he's waiting."

"Waiting for what?

"I'm not…Vladimir was impatient. He wanted his revenge on the wit-, I mean the twins, but Razin kept saying it wasn't time."

Alec repeated Prosper's question, irritated with the indirect answer. "What is he waiting for."

"I don't know," Alec vocalised his disapproval. Prosper breezed past me to place a hand on Alec's shoulder. Alec shoved it off, but did no further harm to his prisoner. Still blinded, Travis aimed his words directly at me. "I think it has to do with…with her."

I bit, "what is that supposed to mean?

"Razin has a…" he spaced the word delicately, "Silvertongue."

"I won't betray the Volturi," I defended. I had assumed he was suggesting such a direction. I was incorrect. Even with Alec's hand on his throat and the fear associated with his loss of sight, his pattern persisted. He grew steadily confident, continuing with the same irrational faith that Zafir had exhibited in the throne room only months ago.

"Maybe, maybe not." Travis jerked suddenly, giving another roar as he tried to escape again before relenting. He reached out the hand of his least damaged arm towards me. As if he would ever get within meters of me again. He shut his eyes, opening them once, twice, and throwing his head back a third time. Alec tightened his grip. "You gotta let me see again, man. Please."

Alec released him, but it was Prosper that spoke.

"Congratulations on immortality." With a growl, "unfortunately, the Volturi do not offer second chances."

Travis reeled, snapping his teeth at us. "You can't win! It is set in stone. You will never —" Alec was ready for this.

He leaned forward and sank his teeth into Travis' throat, ripping the skin from the body with a puff of dust. The vampire went silent, but this did nothing to lessen the damage delivered to his body. Alec's pale fingers dug into Travis' shoulder and his other hand gripped the opposite side of Travis' face. I looked away. This was no normal beheading.

I think Prosper stopped him before he dismantled the rest of the man in front of me, but I was too focused on Alec. He slowly rose from his attack. His voice was dark, angry, "this is why we kill them. Should never have listened to a human." I flinched.

He was right, of course. I never should have stepped in. Saving Travis' life had nearly been the end of all our lives, of him and I. Because I wanted to prove myself?

I could feel Alec's eyes switch to me, regretful and worried for the repercussions of the harsh comment. Only, I had been drawn back to stare at the remnants of Travis' head. Or where his head had previously been. A cloud of dust was prevalent, detached from his torso. His voice pulled my attention away before I could take much more in.

"Tesorina," Alec reached for me. My mind flashed — the look in his eyes right before he'd torn out Travis' throat… I flinched away from him. "Fiya?"

"I—" I tried to speak, but no words came as I turned my horrified gaze on Alec.

Prosper again stepped forward, giving me a moment to myself to recover. Though I never felt an absence of my mate's eyes. I heard Alec ask, "Where is he?"

"Weasel escaped. I've got his scent." A pause. I raised my head up to see that Vladimir had, indeed, vanished. Leaving his protege to the fire. "We need to clean up."

Alec didn't say anything at first, contemplating the next best step. His stare left me so he could direct the lower guard member. "Dispose of him and return to the compartment." Prosper nodded, moving forward to do just that.

Alec tried to touch me again.

My eyes widened and for a moment, all I could see was Vladimir's eyes and Travis gripping my throat. So, again, without meaning too, I countered his move. My arms came up to wrap around my midsection. All I wanted was Alec and his ironically natural ability to calm me by just existing beside me. But, I couldn't meet his eyes.

Alec's eyebrows fell in defeat. He turned to Prosper once more, his voice colder and more official. "Escort her back. I will rejoin you soon."

Prosper nodded and cautiously tried to get me to follow him, finally having to set a bare touch to my arm. I didn't flinch from him and I saw Alec turn away as he saw this opposite response. Prosper led me away in silence, returning to our suite. I felt weak, unable to do anything but stare at the space in front of me.

"Saffiya?" Prosper whispered, as if speaking any louder would make me scatter like a deer. I managed to look up at him. We had returned to the suite and I was seated in my original spot by the window. It was dark now.

I didn't answer him, growing steadily aware of a gaping hole in my chest. Prosper had a hand on the side of my face, pressing something down. I heard the crumble of a wrapper and touched my eye. A band aid for the scratch Vladimir had given me. I blinked, wondering who exactly it was for.

"It was not deep. Still," He gave me a side smile, standing to throw the wrapper away. "Best not to push our luck any further."

The reminder lunged at me like a shot of epinephrine and I jumped up. Prosper steadied me, blocking my path to the door. "Where's Alec?"

"He'll be here."

"What?"

"Have you rested yet?" I didn't answer, unable to both process and craft an appropriate response, even a white lie seemed unachievable. The benefits of my little nap had been obliterated, thanks to our attackers. "Shoot, kid." He continued to curse under his breath. "There's a bed for a reason."

I shook my head with determination.

Alec.

"But Alec—" He gently pushed against my shoulder, leading me back to my previous spot by the window instead. He flashed across the room and returned with the decorative blanket from the bottom of the bed and laid it over me.

"I'll wake you when he returns. You need sleep."

And I tried to deny it, but my eyelids were heavy and the blanket was awfully soft.

I knew I wanted to respond, but I couldn't get my brain to focus on the words I should say. Instead, something else slipped out.

"I need him."

"He'll be here."

"No," I reached out and grabbed his arm, desperately holding on. "You were right." I took a breath. "I need him."

Prosper's stern face tucked me back in with a simple:

"Then tell him."

~•~•~•~

A/N: Considered ending Part 1 in the next chapter, but too busy to think it through - so quite a few more chapters unless I change my mind last minute. Which I might. Yeet! YOLO!

Guys! I start my first day of grad school tomorrow (today actually, like less than 12 hours) and instead of doing all of my readings and notes (34 + 58 pages), I finished this. Clearly, my priorities are straight. But this means, again, everything I said I'd do at the end of the last chapter, I will do later.

But I do want to say thank you thank you thank you to everyone who reviewed and favourited and followed, especially on the last chapter. Y'all are my rocks.

Just wanted to post and now I'm going to bury myself in articles. Do your homework, don't procrastinate. Seriously, it's not cool. Don't be like me. Okay, toodles!

Ro

P.S. Goodness, I hope this all makes sense. Look forward to some major Alec and Saffiya in the next scene. Like so major I've been writing it since maybe May.