Something was simmering within Marina. I could sense it in the way she pushed me away, in the way she spoke to me, and it stressed me greatly. She was not like Natalia, expansive and explosive, but she was perfectly capable of causing trouble in her own way. Quietly, patiently letting her anger build up until it bubbled enough to pour over the edge like slimy hot lava, taking whatever it could in its merciless path. She would wallow it in until it imploded and as she crumbled down she would take as much as she could with her.
I was beyond worried.
"I spoke to her," Jane announced as we gathered to wait for Heidi. She didn't need to specify who she was talking about. "She should go to you soon. I advised her to give up this whole staying away nonsense."
"Advised?" I echoed mockingly. She scowled and looked away from me.
"She needed some persuasion but she came around."
"You hurt her," I accused but I was not very preoccupied. I trusted Jane to be gentle with her, she knew well enough how frail humans could be.
"It was just a little nudge. She barely sweat at all."
"She has been misbehaving" I considered, trying to be fair rather than emotional in my judgement "and with Master Aro's fear that she will get too severely hurt if she was to be punished for her misdeeds I suppose she has been getting bolder. I would think it was good for her to feel your power, sister. It doesn't truly harm her and it might put her in her place until her transformation."
Jane smiled at me and took my hand in hers. "I am sorry that I interfered but it pains me to see your distress."
"Thank you, Jane. Marina does need a few nudges from time to time."
And I am not about to ever complain if she is nudged towards me.
The terms of her transformation were being revised, as I knew. Like me, the masters began to worry that it was too dangerous to keep her human for the previously accorded time, especially with Natalia in the castle as well.
"She is not adjusting, is she?"
Jane and I turned to face Afton as he spoke, Chelsea right by his side. Demetri heard him and laughed from his spot a few steps away.
"She is human," he said for what felt like the hundredth time since Marina set foot in the palazzo, "of course she is not."
"Many humans aspire to be like us and adjust just fine" I reasoned. "Marina just happens to not be one of them."
"Just our luck" Chelsea smiled at the irony. "She is harder to deal with."
We all knew she meant it in regards to her own gift. As it happened with certain abilities the one Chelsea possessed did not work as well on humans as it did on immortals. Ever since Marina had learnt of her expected role in the coven I had hoped that Chelsea's manipulation would be enough to at least keep her from trying to flee until she was granted immortality, but Chelsea admitted not long after Marina's arrival that she was not sure that she could hold the newly arrived human there if she was too averse to becoming one of us.
"She is so faint, I barely feel her at times."
"I feel her just fine" Demetri contributed, "and her friend as well. They are both still in the kitchen with the other human."
"She doesn't want to be a vampire then" Afton went on, "that is too bad." Chelsea nodded in agreement.
"I just hope she won't be a tormented vegetarian once she is turned. That will not sit right in here" she mused.
Just considering that heinous idea filled me with pure dread. The simple memory of the gruesome stench of animal blood flooded my mind and I was assaulted by images of an immortal Marina bathing herself in it as she tastelessly tried to quench her newborn thirst with such a feeble substitute for the blood of humans. I quickly rid my head of it, unable to tolerate the mere possibility.
"She's better than that."
None of them seemed to be as sure as I was but then again none of them had seen her as I had, vicious and implacable in her quest for revenge disguised as self-defence; her human, flushed face covered in her offender's blood, her usually soft expression contorted in pure rage. Remembering how her lips looked that night – so inviting and wet with the dark fresh blood that faintly reflected the dim street lights – sent me into an uncontrollable spiral of lustful thoughts. I found myself picturing her hunting with me far from Volterra, indulging in the thrill of the kill. I had to suppress a sigh to not give myself away as I imagined the both of us feeding together, sharing blood straight from the vein, luring in our prey side by side as trusting companions. A wave of arousal spread through my body as I thought of teaching her how to hunt inconspicuously and sharing a meal with her, and I groaned under my breath, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt to distract myself.
"They are almost here" Demetri guaranteed, mistaking my actions for signs of impatience. I nodded my acknowledgement.
At that moment I visually sought Master Aro and he met my eyes from the other side of the room.
"Ah, Alec! Do come here, my dear."
I quickly obliged and moved to his side.
It was never very easy to talk to Aro. The amount of information he had about anyone and anything was very unusual and thus so was he. Without knowing not even nearly as much as he did it was very difficult to understand and anticipate the changes in his disposition or make out the reasoning behind his actions. His decisions and motives were but mysteries to the rest of us and after over a millennium of that I still had my own troubles when it came down to our interactions. If there was something that allowed me to come close to being at ease with him at any given time was the affection he was always eager to show Jane and I and the appreciation he had for the service we provided with pride. He was the closest thing to a father we could ever hope to have, the memories of our biological parents lost in time.
"We have discussed extensively today and it was an unanimous decision to not delay Marina's transformation any longer" he cheerfully informed me, scrutinising my face for my reaction. "I shall sire her as soon as we leave this room."
I couldn't disguise the obvious display of shock that overtook me, I could feel not only my face but my entire body reacting to his words. Surprise, disbelief and excitement all assaulted me at once and my mind began to race with everything that information entailed.
"You are to be present, if you would like" he added with delight, seemingly satisfied with my unconscious response.
"I would like it very much, yes" I uttered, still enraptured by the sudden change in plans disclosed to me. "Thank you, Master. Grazie mille."
He smiled broadly and cupped my face with his slender hands. "You deserve it, my dear. You deserve it and so much more."
The gratitude I felt for such generosity could not possibly be expressed by words so I humbly bowed to him, speechless. He released me and in that moment Heidi finally made her entrance, followed closely by the unfortunate humans picked out for us on that day.
However Marina planned it to happen, she timed it very well. It could have been sheer luck, yet another unbelievable dose of it, or it could have been an amazingly well-done calculation. We threw ourselves at our unsuspecting victims as usual and absolutely nothing before the first of them was bitten indicated that anything was happening with Marina or Natalia. Marina knew it was the only moment of distraction from us she would have before her transformation and she used it to her advantage.
The screaming from the humans in the kitchen got lost in the midst of the screams from the humans we were drinking. The scent of fresh blood from the humans in the kitchen was lost within the many different scents of fresh blood in the room we were in. Even after we were done it took us a while to notice something was happening.
I was the first one to notice.
At first only the less familiar scent came to my attention but slowly the other one hit me and when it did it hit me hard . It was unmistakable and I wondered how I could not have noticed it before, how even the taste and the smell of other human's blood could have possibly have masked that specific one, how I could have been distracted enough to miss it.
It was Marina's blood.
It was so pungent that she had to be bleeding somewhere in the castle, and profusely. She had an open wound gushing out in some part of a place full of vampires and we didn't notice .
Thank God we just fed.
I rushed back to Aro and took his hand without a word, all courtesy forgotten in my panicked state. Caius eyed me with distaste but he must have noticed something was wrong because he made no comment on my rude ways. Marcus eyed me as well but his face showed as little emotion as usual. As soon as my skin touched his, Aro searched for Demetri.
"Where are they?"
He needed no explanation and only took half a second to assess the three humans' locations. His eyebrows shot up and he too seemed as puzzled as I was.
"Allegra is still in the kitchen. Natalia is near the main entrance, advancing to the street doors." He stopped and furrowed his brow as if he either was not sure of what he was going to say next or couldn't believe his own information.
I felt like minutes have passed before he shook his head and completed:
"Marina is outside the castle."
Every head in the room snapped in his direction.
How? How did she do it?
Another feeling took over me, just as strong as the disbelief and so much worse in its nature. My hands trembled with quiet rage but in my chest I felt the hollow sorrow of the betrayed, I could almost hear the forgotten echoes of my beating heart as it shattered.
Given the chance, she did try to run from me again. She actually tried to leave me, tried to get away knowing she would never see me again if she succeeded. She knew she could never come back to me if she did it and still she chose to do it.
It hurt.
Jane was by side instantly. "She can't go very far, especially if she is bleeding so much."
I shook my head in agreement but couldn't find my voice.
"Felix, you will intercept the one that stayed behind" I heard Master Caius instructing, "Demetri and Alec should go get Marina."
"Perhaps Alec should wait inside with us" Master Aro suggested and I had to refrain from growling at the suggestion.
"His gift is extremely useful in this situation" Caius argued. He then gave me a fierce look before adding "he will keep his feelings under control and do his job."
I was not so sure that I could actually do it but quickly agreed. "Of course."
Aro sighed. "Off you go then."
Demetri sprinted out of the room and I followed him closely, taking only a moment to kiss Jane on the forehead before leaving the room. She seemed willing to go with us but as she was not instructed to do so stayed behind. The smell of Marina's blood impregnated the air when we made it to the upper floors and Demetri immediately voiced my earlier thought, more to himself than to me. "How could we have missed this? It's so strong."
We soon found the source of it. Even without his tracking skills there could be no doubt to Marina's previous movements. She left a trail of blood on the floor that would put many horror films to shame.
"Fuck, what happened to her?" The words reached my ears and I barely registered that it was my own voice. Demetri groaned.
I was reasonably frustrated myself. Marina used the main doors to get to the piazza, which was still under broad daylight. We would be limited in our dislocation and that would slow us down considerably.
"She planned it well. We have to give it to her, she is a smart little thing."
Although Demetri managed to find the situation somehow funny I could not laugh along with him. I was beginning to ask myself how smart she was actually being.
Would she be smart enough to evade us?
She had already been informed of Demetri's gift. She certainly would not go through all the trouble of leaving the castle if she hadn't already planned what to do after that.
Felix held a frantic Natalia by the neck right by the main doors. She was smart enough to not attack him and break or lose a limb, but she flailed around trying to break free from his grip.
Just the sight of her filled me with a poisonous, hectic fury. The sadness I felt over Marina's absence was mixed with the anger from the knowledge that her departure was of her own choice and as I set eyes on Natalia that anger was pointed at her and her alone. Marina was not around, Allegra was not directly responsible for her fugue. Natalia was the only culprit present. Felix and Demetri sensed the danger right away.
"Let's go" Demetri put a hand on my shoulder. "Let's leave, we need to find her."
I couldn't look away from the damned human, I felt on the verge of snatching her from Felix's arms and breaking her neck. As the seconds went by and I had yet to move, all three of them grew more and more anxious, my silent rage becoming obvious even to the lower creature trying to free herself in front of me.
I finally moved, after how long I was not sure. But eventually it crossed my mind that perhaps Marina had no intention of escaping us to live a human life in secret and I almost fell to my knees under the weight of that realisation. It occurred to me that she could be averse enough to the idea of becoming an immortal that she made the choice we never even gave her.
I choked up with tearless sobs.
"Will I ever see her again?" I asked Natalia and she stared at me like she had seen a ghost. "Is she planning to die?"
She didn't answer and to me that was just a confirmation of my worst fear. I left my spot and she screamed as I appeared mere inches away from her face too quickly for her to see me moving. Felix tensed behind her.
"Alec" Demetri called me again but I only had eyes for the human in front of me. Her face was so pale that her skin was almost indiscernible from Felix's.
"Please" I begged but the only answer I got was her wide-eyed stare and the sweat going down her face.
I let out an agonised scream and turned my back on her, closing my eyes. My head was spinning, I couldn't remember ever feeling like that in my whole existence.
She is going to die, she would rather die than stay here with me.
For a brief, insane moment I felt like dying too.
"We need to go now, " Demetri urged. "Master Aro will see whatever she knows in time, let's leave."
I tried to put myself back together to do my job. Master Caius' words echoed through my mind and I forced myself to give up on Natalia and make my way out, but right then she finally spoke.
"She doesn't want to die," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Fuck, I can't believe I am telling you this, I am so backstabbing her."
I turned to look at her again and she started to cry.
"You do like her" she was shaking her head in disbelief and murmuring some nonsense in Portuguese every now and then, but a few of her words would come out in English and actually make sense. "Fuck, I really thought you didn't like her. I can't let you think she is dead."
I walked back to her and Felix let her go. She fell to the ground, crying and trying to keep her hair away from her sweaty face.
"I'll tell you where she went," she promised as her shaky hands dried her abundant tears, "but please don't go after her. Just... She is not gonna kill herself, ok? Don't worry about that but like... Leave her be, alright?"
Amidst all the pain and despair I found myself holding back a laugh.
Sure, as if.
"I promise" the lie left my mouth effortlessly, even smoothly. I took one of her hands and caressed it with my thumb to soothe her. "I just just need to know she is safe."
Natalia wept a bit more before she managed to croak out her confession.
"She didn't explain too well, we didn't have time but she said she has to go to the airport and fly to America, that she knew of these people that could somehow hide her or something."
Demetri, Felix and I exchanged looks. Neither of us uttered a word but we all had the exact same thought.
The Cullens.
Would they take her in? They would certainly sink even deeper into trouble with Aro if they accepted to be part of Marina's plan and they would know it.
"Fuck, I don't know anything else. I'm sorry, but she is fine."
"What about all this blood? She can't be that fine if she is bleeding this much."
"That bitch in the kitchen fought with her and she cut herself with a knife, but she wasn't that hurt. It was not very deep."
I sighed with relief and went out with Demetri, not sparing another glance at her. We had to equip ourselves with wool cloaks and use one of the alternative exits and even so we were severely limited in our movements. Being heavily covered under the warmth of the afternoon sun attracted its fair share of attention.
"Master Marcus and Master Aro are in the surveillance room" Demetri informed me as we reached the streets. "Master Caius has Jane and the two remaining humans with him."
That sounded interesting. Aro was probably going to check Natalia for Marina's plan after watching the cameras we had around the square and Natalia was most certainly regretting not finding her way out more than anything else in her life.
"Where is Marina?"
"Near il Masso di Mandringa."
She was going north, as one would do to go to the airport in Pisa but she was still awfully close to the palazzo. She could have been delayed by her lack of knowledge, taking time to discover how to get there, or she had to wait for public transportation. Both things could have happened and her luck finally ran out.
We would reach her in no time. Even if she had made it farther while we were distracted in the castle she would still have taken at least an hour to arrive at the airport. She had no phone, no documents and no means to purchase a flight ticket. We could take our time and we still would catch her.
"She hoped for too much" I commented, entertained by her attempt once I knew she had no intention of ending her own life and would never outrun us. All my worries left me.
Demetri chuckled. "I cannot remember why we were so worried."
Unfortunately for Marina I could remember it perfectly and the relief I felt upon knowing of her plans and her whereabouts was not enough to completely soothe me. She hurt me far too much and I would have to make her pay for it.
He stopped abruptly and doubted himself once more.
"I lost her."
" What? "
He looked around as if it would help him. "I can't feel her anymore."
Oh, by God's nails.
