-MAISIE-
There were no modern lights in the castle. I think this is a castle, anyway. The stone tiles were cool under my bare feet.
"I apologize for secreting you through a servant's door," Jane said, though her tone held not one ounce of remorse. "This path is longer than taking the front entrance to get to the great hall. There's no elevator or modern renovations on this side of the castle."
Correction: there were no modern lights on this side of the castle. It was dark inside, of course, with only minimal moonlight streaming through the old, murky windows. This moonlight was enough for me to see by, objects swimming into focus in dusky details. Jane led us first through a thoroughly disused kitchen, a sitting room, and into what I thought was a closet.
Rather, when she pushed the door open, it revealed a landing for a flight of stairs. "Watch your step. The stairs are uneven, and we can't have you breaking your neck before your trial, can we?"
"We've come willingly," Jasper said coolly, but the hard glint of his eye foretold his restrained ire. "Committing suicide now wouldn't be productive, would it?"
Jane pouted her full lips, flouncing up the stairs with her cloak streaming behind her. I was thankful for Jasper's grasp on my hand; Jane hadn't exaggerated in her sparse warning. Some steps were angled, others wildly narrower than the step that came before it.
Aside from those barbs, we were silent on the ascent. The stairs seemed to go on forever before we came to another landing and another door, this one much more intricate than the plain wooden doors we had travelled through thus far. These doors were lacquered white, with an inlay of tiled filigree. Jane stepped aside, nodding toward Jasper.
We took a deep breath at the same time, which made a sad kind of smile spread on both of our lips when our eyes met. There was no choice but to move through these massive doors. Jasper and I each grabbed a handle, pulling the doors of our fate open side-by-side.
I can't imagine what I expected the interior of the Volturi castle to look like. Maybe I had anticipated something more akin to vampire lairs shown in media, a la Dracula. What I was not expecting, though, was a blindingly white space that looked like it had been decorated at the height of rococo fashion.
Ceilings soaring high above our heads, huge stained-glass windows inlayed in white marble walls, tile cold under my feet. I was struck that my definition of 'modern' and Jane's must be wildly different; there were no lights in this area of the castle, though everything looked to be in good repair. Silvery light streamed in through the windows, contrasted with the golden glow of the torches lining the walls.
A dais dominated one end of the long, wide hall, upon which sat three tall thrones. They were each equidistance apart, each dominated by a figure cloaked in the deepest of black cloth. We were alone in the hall, aside from these figures; Jane had not followed us in. Between the gloom in the hall, his black cloak, and black hair, I couldn't make out any features of the figure as he descended the steps of the dais and strode forward.
But when he stepped into a shaft of moonlight, facial features thrown into clarity, I realized this man looked nothing like vampires I had met in the past. He was of medium height, but that's not what caught me off guard. Even in the dim light, it was plain to see the translucent quality to the man's skin. Ghostly shadows of veins showed across his face; his eyes were circled by deep, bruise-like smudges. Those eyes themselves were red, but a muted shade, as if aged and faded.
"Maisie!" When he spoke, the thought of cobwebs came to mind. "So kind of you to join us this evening. I apologize for holding this meeting in the dreary night; the castle is a monument and we've not yet finished tourism season in Italy. Come! Jane is fetching the others!"
He turned on his heel, black cloak swishing around his ankles. That introduction—or lack thereof—had taken me by surprise. I glanced up at Jasper as we followed in the man's wake, and he mouthed Aro to me.
So, this was the leader of the Volturi, a mid-height man with translucent skin? His brothers had remained on their thrones, but as we moved forward, I realized the other two were much the same. To Aro's right sat another dark-haired man, his hair much longer and unbound the way Aro's was. On the left sat a man with hair so pale it nearly matched his white skin, red eyes somehow burning in that sea of pallid monotony despite their equally aged look.
"Ah," Aro said, spinning on his heel so quickly—and so near the edge of the top step of the dais—that it was a wonder he didn't tumble right down it. "How rude of me. I had a lapse on introductions, didn't I? Young Maisie, my name is Aro, and these are my brothers, Marcus and Caius."
Marcus was the man to the right, who I now realized wore and entirely apathetic expression. Caius sat to the left, glaring all the while. He was also the second leader to speak.
"She smells… tainted, brother." Caius' observation made Aro giggle as he raised his hands and clapped.
"Come, Jane, dear. Bring in the jury."
I looked over my shoulder just as Jane came in, flanked now by a boy ever so slightly taller than her. They were obviously related, Jane's wide eyes and wider mouth reflected in this boy's face. they were followed by a considerable number of cloaked figures, all of varying ages, heights, and ethnicities. Their red eyes were their only commonality, marking them as vampires of the human blood variety.
Seeing their number made my throat restrict and my chest tighten.
"And this," Aro's voice drew my attention back to him. He raised his arms, gesturing to what must have been more than a hundred vampires moving to line the walls on either side of the hall. "This is our guard, young Maisie, cultivated of the strongest, most gifted vampires we have come across. Let us begin."
Still, Aro did not take his seat. Rather, he walked past Caius, squeezing his brother's hand as he went, and descended the dais again. He all but glided in his cloak until he reached Jane, cupping her face in his hands and pressing a chaste kiss right on her mouth. "Jane, my sweet, why do you linger down here? You know well that I require your abilities, as well as Alec's, for trials."
Jane's smile was transformative, erasing all dourness from her expression. She was suddenly resplendently lovely, gazing up at Aro with utter devotion. "We know our place, Master. We are simply waiting for our invitation to approach the thrones, that is all."
Aro tutted around the two, wrapping them beneath his arms and leading them forward. Rather than climb the dais themselves, Jane and Alec took seats on the steps, just to the side of Caius' throne. There was no explanation concerning their role in the trial, which made me more nervous than if Aro had spelled it out for me.
"Now we may truly begin." Aro said, moving back into his place. "Marcus, read the testimony Irina brought us if you so will, dear brother."
Marcus rose with an actual groan, something I had never heard from a vampire over such a simple movement. He pulled a rolled parchment from the inside of his sleeve, rolling it out and beginning to read in a monotonous voice. If Aro's voice reminded me of cobwebs, then Marcus' was a one-note doldrum.
"Irina's testimony shows that one Jasper Whitlock, from the established coven of Carlisle Cullen, has revealed the existence of our kind to a human girl by the name of Maisie Thompson. Upon hearing Irina's testimony, I, Marcus, along with my brothers Aro and Caius, saw fit to summon the offending party to our home to provide their own testimony and stand trial."
…and that was it. Marcus rolled up the parchment and tucked it back into his sleeve. This transcription made no mention of my role in any of the vampire deaths I was responsible for…not James, Maria, or Irina. In fact, from what Marcus read, it sounded like the only charges was for Jasper.
If they meant to only charge Jasper, then they may kill him alone and… my thought drifted from there, chilling my entire body down to the bones. I took a step forward before I even knew what I was doing. Jasper's hand tightened to stop me, but that's not what had me freezing in my steps.
"Ah!" A short scream; I could get nothing else out of my lungs before the pain consumed me. Such terrible pain, like the burn of vampire venom, but I could feel it all over, in every crevice. There was nothing but this pain, erasing all my senses until I was released as suddenly as I had been afflicted.
The pain left, but I think it took several seconds for the roaring in my ears to cease and my body to unlock. I came back to the sound of Jasper's voice, his cool hands pushing my hair off my now sweaty face.
"…didn't mean anything by it, she became frightened when she heard only I stand accused."
"Ah, yes, I'm sure you are quite attuned to her moods, Jasper. Jane was only acting in protection, I'm sure you'll understand." Aro wore a bemused smile on his face, looking down his long nose at me from the top step of his dais. "I should think that a human girl who has been instrumental in two vampire deaths would be smarter than to make a move where she is so clearly outnumbered."
"Three." In the throws of the pain, I had crumpled nearly to the ground. Only Jasper's grasp had kept me from hitting the cold marble floor. I used his arms now to push myself up, righting myself to look Aro clearly in the eye.
"What was that, child?" Jasper gave me a warning squeeze, fingers tightening around mine, but I shook my hair back and repeated myself for Aro.
"Three vampire deaths, that's how many I was 'instrumental' in."
This time when Aro laughed, it rang through the hall. His amusement came as a shock to Marcus, apparently, red eyes rolling in a slack-jawed face toward his brother. Caius on the other hand, scrunched his face in obvious displeasure. Jane pouted just beside Caius' feet, though Alec remained passive.
"May I see?" Aro asked, gliding toward me with his hand raised, palm outstretched. I would have backed away from him, on instinct, had Jasper not been just behind me. I bumped into his shoulder, a solid blockade from retreat.
"Raise your hand," he breathed in my ear, so I did. Aro's hand met mine, stretching his fingers along my own so that our palms met flush together. There was a pressure, a tugging, I don't know what, at my mind and then the oddest thing happened to my sight. I could still see Aro in front of me, with the others out of focus behind him, but my vision was overtaken by something else, too. Some kind of see-through vision.
It was like taking an old photo film negative and looking through it. You could see what was beyond the film but overlaid with the picture the film contained. I could see Aro, but I could also see Gunner. He was little, a toddler, all chubby thighs in his shorts as he ran alongside me. The sun shone on us. We ran, too slow on our toddler legs, after a lizard zipping through grass. I recognized this: my earliest memory. I could even hear us laughing, our feet crunching over the sun-bleached grass.
A terrible blur of color and sound came next, almost like fast-forwarding a VHS tape. It was nauseating in the swiftness. I guess Aro was searching for something. With an equally disconcerting stop, the blur ended on a vision of Maria's face.
I was shorter than her the first time we met, so that I had to tilt my head back to look at her. Her musical voice played in my head once more, beckoning me to leave the house. Her momentary disappointment when I wouldn't do as she bid.
"You're too young anyway." A flash of movement, a burning in my cheek. In my memory, Maria leaned forward to kiss my cheek, red blood staining her lips when she pulled back. The change in her eyes when she licked her lips clean was immediate and shocking, black blazing to red.
That tugging sensation again, and my vision was righted. I was left breathless, staring at Aro's perplexed face. He had pulled his hand back ever so slightly, so we were no longer quite touching. Where Aro was all confusion, and Marcus all quiet apathy, Caius was excitement. He stood from his throne, his face bright. "You've found something damning so soon, brother?"
Aro raised his free hand, shaking his head. "No. Something of consideration, rather. It appears that Jasper may not have been responsible for Maisie's knowledge of vampires. Let it be known that one Maria, who we had known to be notorious among the Southern United States territory wars, made a rather showy display of consuming a small amount of Maisie's blood in front of her."
There were murmurs from the 'jury' lining the wall. Aro's hand left mine, darting forward to grasp my jaw and turn my face so that he could peer at my scarred cheek. "Hmm."
His nails dug into my jaw, making me grit my teeth. I couldn't have explained if I wanted to, but I didn't need to anyway. Jasper cleared his throat, drawing Aro's attention so that his hand slackened somewhat against my face.
"It's referred to as 'marking'. This technique wasn't used in my time serving Maria, and I admit, it's not a skill I would have likely ever mastered. Marking requires considerable self-control. Maisie's human perspective, as well as dulled human sight, doesn't reveal the whole process in memory, I'm sure."
He went on to explain how Maria had deposited a miniscule amount of her own venom into the cut she left on my cheek. A taste of vampire venom, but far to small an amount to overtake the bloodstream and cause a turning.
"Interesting. Thank you for that explanation. My brothers and I are familiar with the general concept of that technique, though in different applications." Aro whispered, cool breath washing over my face, we were so close. I expected him to take my hand again, to sift through my memories, but I soon learned that any physical contact allowed Aro to activate his abilities. He kept hold of my face, positioning it so I was meeting his gaze straight on, and I was soon dragging along through blurs of my memories.
Pauses happened occasionally—my consistent cat scratch lie I used to cover my encounter with Maria, our move to Forks, the Cullens arriving a few years later, miniscule interactions with the Cullens before knowing they were vampires. Sometimes Aro watched a few seconds of a memory—meeting Jasper, for example. But he didn't fully stop and let one play through again until he reached my memory of James breaking into my bedroom. However, he ended it prematurely, before I had raised the gun and shot James in the head.
"Ah," he murmured. "I see."
He spun from me then, his cloak sending a wash of cool air ruffling my skirt. With an air of exaggerated drama, Aro looked all around his 'jury' he had collected made up of his own Volturi guard.
"Let it be known that a second vampire made no efforts to conceal his nature from our young Maisie. I think some questions are in order. As soon as you saw James' red eyes, a memory of Maria ran through your mind. Tell me, why did you connect James with Maria, but not with the Cullen coven?"
I didn't like the way he kept referring to the Cullens as a 'coven' rather than the family I knew them to be. Still, I pushed that away. Aro had spun again; Caius was leaning forward on his throne. They were expecting an answer.
"I…" I started, but Aro was right. Why hadn't I? "I had only been around Jasper, really, at that point. And Jasper…he's mindful about staying fed, to help his self-control. Even now, I've only seen his eyes golden. Maria's eyes had been black when I first saw her, and they turned red when she tasted my blood. James had red eyes the first time I saw him, and Jasper always had gold eyes, so it wouldn't make sense to connect the Cullens with Maria and James."
For someone I was fairly sure had never seen a lawyer in a modern court of law, that's what Aro reminded me of. He tossed a look over his shoulder at his brothers, and I watched, in profile, as his eyebrows raised in some unspoken question to them. When he turned back to us, he lifted his hand not to me, but to Jasper.
I hadn't chanced any glances at Jasper since Jane's strange attack, afraid my resolve would waiver. Now, though, I tipped my head up to take in the hard set of his jaw, his resolute eyes, as he raised his own hand. I gripped his elbow, hoping he would recognize it as the show of support I intended.
Whatever Aro heard in his past thoughts as he replayed the memories would seal Jasper's fate, I knew.
"I do so hope I'm not causing any strife between you two lovers, but, Jasper, I must ask you to explain your decision to tell Maisie the truth of our kind. It seems to me that your skills as a tactician came in handy, no?"
I noticed, unlike with me, Aro did not release Jasper from his grip when asking for an explanation. I kept a hand on Jasper, too, fingers curled around his arm. Beside me, he sighed.
"When James and his wandering companions came to Forks, Maisie piqued his interest. They had learned of the marking technique Maria had inflicted on Maisie in their travels." He paused here, looking down at me. His golden eyes were tight and hard. "This wanderer, James, was obsessive. We learned that from one of his companions, Laurent. He defected, travelling on to Alaska to meet and learn from the Denali sisters."
"Why not just kill the girl?" Caius called from the dais. "Surely that was this James' intent, was it not?"
"No." With some reluctance, Jasper's gaze slid away from my face to meet Caius' head on. "Actually, they had different plans. Maisie was an already marked human. Neither James nor Victoria had ever attempted to turn a human before, but they hypothesized that turning Maisie may be easier. They were inspired by the southern armies and thought Maisie would be the perfect place to start."
"You didn't love her then," Aro intercepted. "Admired her, yes, but not love. I believe Caius' question still stands: why not kill her and not your fellow vampires to end it?"
"Carlisle does not believe in taking human life, as you all know. He's taught us the same. We spare human life and partake in an animal blood diet, which allows us to blend into the human world without calling attention to our vampiric nature. Which is not to say we have not had our lapses, myself especially… but, besides that…Alice had foreseen that they would be relentless, would not conceal themselves, and that Maisie would put up a fight. Nor would they allow their plans to be foiled by the death of one human. It was in the best interest of my family to eliminate James and Victoria."
Caius huffed, blowing his breath as his hands curled to fists. Marcus only nodded in reaction, as if Jasper's explanation made perfect sense to him, so I was surprised to hear him speak. "The question remains; why tell the girl at all?"
With a quick jerk, Jasper withdrew his hand from Aro's grasp before nodding toward me. "Watch a little longer and I think you might understand."
Ignoring his indignant huff, I held my hand out for Aro once more. I hated the rollercoaster rush feeling that his mind sifting brought on, but I was careful to keep my face neutral while he sped through. When he stopped, it was to slam into my memory of James climbing through my bedroom window. In memory, I watched James' face crack around the impact of the bullet, venom using from the wound.
This memory, it seemed, was shocking to Aro. He pulled his hand back, gasping as if I had hurt him. Jane was on her feet in an instant behind him, but Aro held up a hand to stop her. "It's nothing, my sweet."
Even as Aro consoled Jane, Caius barked, "What did you see?" Not that he got an answer. I raised an eyebrow at Aro, pressing my hand back to his. We picked up where we left off:
I chanced one glance back at Ava. She had her face covered with her hands, crying. When I looked back, the man smiled in a sick, twisted way, and lifted his finger to his lips.
Shhh.
Aro flickered through the next bits, pausing here, zooming past there. He swallowed before speaking, not letting up at all as he searched through my memories. "Why didn't you tell your parents?"
"I'm not sure how much you know about humans, but most of us don't have any clue about vampires or anything else supernatural. 'Hey, Mom and Dad, I just shot a man in the head, but he didn't bleed. His skin just cracked around the bullet. Oh, and he had red eyes.' My next stop would've been to Carlisle for a psych eval."
Slipping his fingers through mine, Aro gripped my hand tightly. He didn't have to tell me I was expected to stay exactly where I was, or else. Grabbing Jasper's wrist, Aro released my mind if not my hand. He was not a conduit, it seemed. I had no inkling of what he was viewing in Jasper's mind, even as I studied their faces.
Aro looked paler than he had before, somehow. His face was drawn, pinched, eyes narrowed as his red gaze met Jasper's calm, golden eyes. I knew this calm was a front, but damn, was it a good one. Jasper's face looked entirely serene, even as his irritation and wariness spiked within me.
If I had to guess, I would say that Aro was watching Jasper's confession on the pier just days after I shot James. For several minutes, Aro went between the two of us, pulling up twin memories, I suspected.
The confession. James' death. All the aftermath that followed.
All the aftermath that followed. At least, in my own mind. Which means he saw the Quileute wolf pack, Gunner learning about vampires himself, Bella's involvement in all of that.
I was hoping, stupidly, that Aro wouldn't go that far. Though I hadn't eaten in days, my stomach was in revolt, acid already climbing upward along my throat.
"What convolution." Suddenly, Aro released both of us, pinching the bridge of his nose as if afflicted with a headache.
"If they pain you, brother, why have we not made our leave of them yet?" Caius asked, baring his teeth.
"We've only one charge against them," Marcus reminded us all, in that mausoleum voice of his. "And we have yet to reach a verdict on them. Execution cannot come before a guilty verdict, Caius."
This made the blonde brother huff as Aro threw his hands up, turning on his heel to regain his throne. He flicked his wrist at Alec as he passed. The young boy stood, and I felt Jasper tense beside me, but nothing happened. Well, nothing besides Alec blurring from the room, air ruffling Jasper's hair as he streaked past us.
All eyes seemed to shift within the room. Jasper and I were no longer the point of focus. In fact, it seemed we had ceased to exist altogether. Even when I moved closer to Jasper, letting him wrap me in his arm as I fitted myself against his side, there was not another sudden, painful attack from Jane.
Before us, on their thrones, the three leaders of the Volturi began to argue.
"Marcus," Aro began, voice world-weary. "Tell me, how deep is the emotional tie between these two?"
"Considerably, brother. They are intertwined. I should think it would not be an unfounded assumption that they would fight for one another should one…expire."
An eyeroll from Caius, but Aro soldiered on. "And we know the love Carlisle and Esme hold for those they consider their children."
"We know from Irina's testimony that they have had contact with werewolves." Caius spit the word with such acidity, I was surprised there was no saliva staining the tile at his feet. A wave of Aro's hand quickly dismissed him.
"Shifters, not true Children of the Moon, dear brother. We suspected as much, remember? Memories in both the accused's minds proved our suspicion there. They are responsible for the deaths of Laurent and Irina, these shifters, but a treaty exists between the Cullen coven and the shifters I would be loath to destroy. Jasper?"
Another wave of Aro's hand, this time to summon. I made no effort to extricate myself, moving forward in tandem alongside Jasper. We stopped just short of the dais.
"Tell us true, friend. Why did you reveal the existence of our kind to this human girl?"
There was no waver in Jasper's voice, despite my pounding heart and our combined fear and anxiety. "James and Victoria were the true threat, at the time. They needed to be eliminated, which spared Maisie by circumstance. However, the decision to reveal the truth to Maisie was my own and should not reflect on her or the rest of my family. At the time, it was a decision borne from the desire to provide her some comfort. I would venture to say, however, that Aro has seen that Maisie has guarded our secret as her own though not a vampire herself. If I am sentenced to die for that decision, I can say in all honesty I have no regrets in making it."
Aro smiled. There was no warmth in it, however, a fact that was highlighted by Marcus' characteristic lack of reaction and Caius' sneer.
"Not yet...I'm getting ahead of myself. We have bigger factors at play here." His voice rang out, suddenly, the theatrics unneeded considering the exceptional hearing abilities of vampires. I jumped at this sudden outburst, as Aro explained Maria's and Irina's deaths. He put extra emphasis on how I had consumed venom each time: once from drinking Gunner's blood; more recently from willingly swallowing Irina's.
"Considerable feats, I think we can all agree, to consume such amounts of venom and perform instrumental roles in the deaths of three vampires. Though…bravery has never been an acceptable currency for crimes, has it? And Jasper has committed our worst."
Here, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Long, black hair fell forward to frame his cheeks. When he met my eye, I had the strangest feeling of being a small child under scrutiny from their teacher.
"Sweetling, you do understand that this predicament could be very easily solved by you fully joining the vampire lifestyle, don't you?"
I nodded, suddenly unable to find my voice around the heart in my throat. Aro mirrored my nod, that cold smile widening just a bit.
"Don't look so frightened! There's no need to fret, dear Maisie. No, you won't be undergoing the arduous three-day process of a typical turning."
We both must have been standing there staring dumbfounded and wide-eyed at Aro, because his eyes flicked back and forth between us before he began giggling. "Caius, the purity of our kind is your expertise. I'll leave the explaining to you."
Caius damn near preened at being given the spotlight, straightening his posture and throwing his shoulders back, chin held high.
"There is basis behind the mythos surrounding vampires, you see. Human imagination is not to credit in the varying lore of our kind, but even vampires who have walked the Earth as long as Carlisle are far too young to remember a time when other…types….of vampires existed."
Other types of vampires…
I wasn't given time to ponder that thought. Caius pushed himself from his throne, addressing all of us, not just Jasper and I. "Differing types of creation generate different vampires. It's quite simple, but for time's sake, we won't be delving into each of these creation methods. Besides, such information is highly sensitive information, and revealing too much to our…friends…on trial here would invalidate the need for said trial."
He turned on his heel, pinning us under his red gaze. "I value demonstration of truth. I find it adds authenticity to fact. Aro, the truth."
"Irina provided information to us prior to this trial that Maisie and Jasper, as well as the rest of the Cullen coven, have become aware of hybrids, or, beings typically wrought from a male vampire coupling with a human woman."
Oh shit. How had I forgotten about that? There was a low buzz of whispered conversation moving through the crowds of vampires lining the walls.
"Yes, yes, common enough knowledge for those who reside within this castle. Not so common—nay, unheard of—to the average vampire. We cannot fault Carlisle, or his children here before us, for the misfortune of stumbling upon this knowledge. Instead, we will elucidate these two standing trial. There is another way to create a hybrid vampire, through the oral consumption of vampire venom."
Aro met my eye, giving a wink with a tip of his head toward me. I had broken into a cold sweat by this point, because remembering Joham and his daughters started a domino effect in my mind. Yes, I had forgotten them, but I had forgotten something else monumental in my single-minded focus on the very real possibility Jasper may not leave Volterra with me.
Gunner, my very, very human brother, had intimate knowledge of vampires. So did Bella, Sam's fiancée, Emily…likely all of the human imprints of the Quileute wolf pack.
I was so focused only on how coming to stand before the Volturi would affect me.
Even watching those memories back in the weird, see-through fashion of Aro's power hadn't alarmed me. I had forgotten the ramifications, but it was very clear from Aro's wink that he had seen, and, unlike me, he would not be forgetting.
That terrible, ugly truth hung like a leaden weight in my stomach. A buzzing had taken up residence in my ears, so that I had to strain to hear what Aro said next. "The truth is that Maisie cannot undergo our preferred method of becoming a vampire…because she's already become a hybrid."
"Impossible!" Jasper argued. His outburst jostled me, setting in motion a shaking that I couldn't stop if I tired. "Maisie differs entirely from the hybrids we met in South America."
"Does she, though?" Caius' mocking tone, not to mention his canary smirk, made it clear he was enjoying this with relish. "Her heartbeat has slowed, truly, even now only beating at a typical human rhythm in her terror. But her smell? Indistinguishable."
"Not to mention her increased strength, heightened senses, dependency on a human blood diet, recent lack of appetite… she possesses all known characteristics of a venom-turned hybrid. Similar, yes, but not identical to a born-hybrid. Jasper, truly, she was so terribly sick after consuming so much of Irina's venom. That lingering fever wasn't concerning to Carlisle?"
"…yes, but, we had—" Jasper sputtered in vain beside me, but Aro was quick to cut him off.
"I'm surprised with our old friend. Carlisle has studied humans and vampires alike for centuries now and he couldn't see the answer right in front of his face."
For the first time Marcus smiled, his lips quirking into something that looked almost like amusement. "We haven't done him much favors there, brother, having destroyed all vampires that differ from us."
Obviously displeased by the derailing of his spotlight, Caius cut a deadly glare at Marcus and Aro before turning back to face us.
"Venom-turned hybrids and born-hybrids share a massive commonality between them: a blood immunity to venom." Caius' eyes lit up in his excitement. "Which brings us to the demonstration of truth."
He strode down the dais steps on light feet stopping just a few feet from us. Immediately, Jasper angled his body so that he was shielding me, but that only left Caius clicking his tongue in disapproval. "Now, now. I know what you assume; it's plain to see on your face, Jasper. I have no intentions of harming Maisie, I merely wanted to be front and center for the show."
An inclination of his head had me turning my own. Through the massive white doors, Alec returned, but he was not alone. He led Serena behind him, a tight hold on her wrist. Her white-blonde hair was limp against her cheeks, pale green eyes bugging from her skull. I froze at the sight of her, Jasper going rigid beside me.
"Unfortunately, Aro has yet to find a vampire with time manipulation abilities, and your sister Alice is not hear to foresee the future for us. We shall have to take a more direct, scientific approach. Alec?"
The young vampire, no more than a boy, really, stopped a yard or so before us. Smiling up at Serena, Alec's teeth glinted in the moonlight. She tried to pull away from him, she really did, and she but up a good fight, but Serena proved no match to Alec's gift.
I didn't notice the shimmery mist at first. When Serena began to calm, I thought it was from Alec's shushing her. Like a fog rolling in, though, the mist curled upward until it caught my eye. Silver waves undulated over Serena's body, climbing past hips, stomach, shoulders; swirling around her face as she calmed and quieted.
"Alec can deprive the senses via his mist," Jasper murmured beside me, voice wooden and hollow in explanation.
"This hybrid is not the one on trial," Caius didn't sound happy about that fact. "Aro affords some mercy, when it has been earned."
Once Serena was still beneath Alec's touch, he lifted her arm with no resistance. He sunk his teeth into the tender underside of Serena's wrist, blood dripping down his chin as his throat bobbed with a single, deep swallow.
But…Serena didn't react. She looked for all the world like a zombie, standing with her mouth slightly agape and eyelids heavy, blood dripping from her wrist onto the white tile floor.
"Do not fret, she won't feel a thing so long as Alec has her enveloped in his mist. Hybrids are fast healers, besides. Notice how she's suffered no ill effects, Jasper? No racing heart to be heard?" Aro commented, but his voice sounded a thousand miles away just then. Caius' was too loud, in contrast, amusement coloring his sharp tone.
"Seeing is believing, or so they say. Now, Jasper, are you going to do the honors or shall I?"
A/N: The first part of the trial with the Volturi!
I always felt the Volturi was cult-like (obviously), and I am trying hard to capture that with how I write them. (Cue Jane calling Aro 'master').
Maisie becoming a 'hybrid' was actually inspired by two very disconnected things that my brain somehow mashed together: 1). I have always been so curious as to why there is only one type of vampire in Twilight when we had that whole scene of Bella researching various vampire myths and 2). research I did on snake venom (which seems the closest to vampire venom that exists in the real world; aside from altering DNA it seems that certain snake venom operates similar to my understanding of vampire venom) waaaay back when Maisie swallowed Maria's venom to cleanse Gunner's blood.
This has been a long time coming, y'all.
More will be explained in the next chapter as to why swallowing the venom brings different results than injecting venom straight to the bloodstream. But first we have to get through Caius' 'demonstration'... don't ask me why, but when thinking about how to characterize the Volturi, I decided Caius would likely be a man of scientific thinking, so long as its his own twisted form of science. More on that next time.
