I slept quite well that night, only experiencing a very faint mating pull once and it was hardly noticeable in anyway, at least not compared to some I'd experienced in the past. Once I was awake and ready the next morning, I wearily shuffled down the stairs into the kitchen in the hope that there would be at least some human food that I could have for breakfast in the kitchen. To my surprise, Irina was already there with her hair tied up neatly out of her face, cooking what looked like crêpes.
"I figured you would be hungry," she said simply and slid a plate of them over to me along with a bowl of fresh fruit.
I sat down at the kitchen island and began tucking in. "Thank you, that's very kind of you. Tastes delicious by the way."
A very faint smile formed on her lips. "You're welcome."
There was an awkward pause for a minute or so, where the only sound was my knife and fork scraping on the plate. Irina was the first one to cut through the silence.
"So you're friends with Bella then?" she asked.
"Yeah, we've been friends since we were little. She was the one who first got me into this supernatural worldly mess," I gestured around and laughed.
"She told you about the Cullens? Did she not know our kind is to be kept secret?" she questioned.
"We're like sisters, and she knew I wouldn't tell anyone, which I didn't. If I hadn't met the Volturi, I probably would've joined the Cullens with her," I mused.
Come to think of it, things would be so incredibly different if I hadn't met the kings. I would've been a Cullen, the only Cullen without a mate. Damn, life would've been lonely without my mates constantly fighting over me.
"So, do you know about the…" she trailed off.
I laughed under my breath and gestured for her to continue. "The…?"
"…wolves?"
"Oh yeah, them, I think I saw a few of those doggos at the Cullens' graduation party a few months back. Bella had invited them apparently. Not gonna lie though, one of them was kind of a dick," I admitted.
The corners of her lips turned up happily. "Really?"
"Yeah, what was his name…Jacob, that's it. He was such a sassy little thing, I don't know why the hell Bella likes him at all," I giggled. "He managed to piss me off within seconds of meeting me, which is quite a feat to say the least, since I like virtually everyone I meet."
"Clearly we share similar opinions on them then," she smiled.
"What's your opinion on them?"
She let out a sad sigh, but I cut in before she could say anything. "Is this another depressing back story? If so, I'm sorry for prying, it's-"
"No, it's okay, I'll tell you," she insisted, "the…I had a mate, Laurent, he came to stay with us a short while ago and switch to our diet. I am assuming you already know of the vegetarian diet?" I nodded. "Yes, Laurent truly wanted to change his ways for the better and join our coven permanently. He wanted to live at peace with humans, with me, but one of those…those untamed wolf things…they killed him."
"They…I didn't realise they kill vampires, I'm so sorry for your loss," I sympathised.
She seemed to be blinking back a tear that would never fall. "I wanted revenge, I still want revenge, but I'm trying to put it past me. But I swear to God if one of those mutts attend this wedding reception, I will-"
I cut in. "I doubt Bella and Edward will invite them, truly. This is a vampire-y wedding, so I doubt they'd want to come in anyway," I tried to reassure her.
She took an unnecessarily deep breath to calm herself. "You're right, they won't be there, it'll be fine."
"Exactly, that sassy wolf and his furry friends probably won't go," I laughed.
"Are the Volturi going though?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm meeting them there. I don't really want to think about what would happen if Caius ran into one of the shape-shifters, but I reckon he'd probably have an utter hissy-fit knowing him," I humoured, placing my now empty plate into their dishwasher.
"It's strange to think of the Volturi like that," she mused.
"Like what?"
"Like lovers. I've had the privilege of seeing their ruthless, unforgiving side, but never did I think they could have a soft spot for anyone, especially an innocent little human girl like you. No offence or anything."
"None taken, it's a little weird for people to get their head around apparently, and it scares the hell out of Bella. I'm considering putting everyone off by making out with the kings at every given opportunity at the wedding," I laughed.
She visibly cringed. "Please don't."
"Just pray to the gods that we're not on the same table as you, else you're in for quite a show," I teased.
"If those wolves don't ruin the wedding, you definitely will," she laughed.
I dramatically flipped my hair and stood back up, putting my boots on by the front door. "I'm going for a walk."
"Um…why?" she asked confused.
Eleazar and Carmen both walked into the kitchen from the front room. "Eli, maybe that's not such a good idea," they warned.
"And why not? There are ten Volturi guards following me at all times. Just to prove it, Steve?" I called out.
Steve suddenly appeared by my side and bowed his head respectfully. "Yes my queen?"
"You can just call me Eli, it's fine. I'm going for a walk. Do you think it's a good idea?" I asked him.
"No. It's not a good idea, but we will guard you with our lives regardless, my queen," he spoke with his usual bland tone and bowed again.
I gestured to him with a told-you-so grin. "You see? Nothing to worry about. Thanks Steve, you're dismissed."
With that, I swung the door open and began heading down their driveway. "If I'm not back within an hour, send a search party," I called behind me jokingly and set out for the wilderness of Denali.
I boredly strolled through the pine forest with my phone in my back pocket and my Volturi crest around my neck. The crisp cold air sent shivers through my spine so I wrapped my cloak a little tighter around me, but I didn't particularly care, it was a nice walk. The air was so serene, the only sound being the whistle of the wind and the faint chirping of birds in the trees. I was so relaxed that I almost forgot that there were guards following me somewhere out of sight.
Ten of the coven's members each had a Volturi on their knees in front of them, and they all ripped off their heads with a simultaneous cracking sound. Two figures stood in the middle of the circle with proud expressions on their faces as their ruby eyes watched on at this perfect show before them.
"Dispose of them," the dark haired one instructed.
Without needing any further instruction, each of the severed heads was tossed into the blazing inferno of the bonfire in front of them, followed by any other remains. They watched on gleefully as their crests melted from the sheer heat of the engulfing flames with pride.
"That ought to do nicely," the blonde one clapped his hands together, "now let us find our curvă mică italiană, frate."
I'd been walking through that forest for about twenty minutes now, but I wasn't counting. The ground had such a perfect dusting of snow, which meant that my footsteps left a perfect trail behind me. At some point, I'd found a perfectly climbable tree, so of course my childish self must've spent a few minutes sitting up in the branches.
I made a u-turn and began heading back the way I came, but it almost felt like I was being watched, like someone's eyes were burning into the back of my head. At first, I panicked, but then I remembered that the guard were still around somewhere in anyway. Count on Caius to send too much protection for a short trip to the middle of nowhere.
Before I could even register what was happening, two dark figures appeared from the tree line and began pacing towards me. I screamed in fright and fell backwards onto the snowy, moss-covered ground, slowly shuffling further away from them.
The blonde man tutted and shook his head. "This will never do, silly human," he spoke with a broad accent, but I had no idea what it was.
Human? Wh- I suddenly realised their eyes were red, and not just red but completely crimson. Everything suddenly made sense, but I had an idea on how to get myself out of here. I pulled my crest out from underneath my jacket, my cloak now fallen onto the ground a few metres away. That was going to need a wash now, goddamn it.
"I-I-I'm with the Volturi, d-d-don't hurt me or y-y-you'll regret it," I held the crest up in front of me as if that was going to protect me if they decided to attack.
The dark haired one simply laughed and bent down to my level, but I still wasn't taking any chances so I edged away across the ground even further. "Oh, we know."
"W-what do you-who are you?"
"Who are we?" the blonde crouched on my left and dared to place a hand on my cheek, and I so would've bitten it off if he was a human and I wasn't being threatened at that moment.
I tried to reach for my phone in the faint hope that I'd be able to call someone for help, but he managed to pull it out of my pocket before I had the chance and crushed it in his fist. "Hey, that was new as well!" I snapped.
"Have it back then," he turned his nose up at me and tipped his palm to the side, dropping the remains of my brand new phone from Caius on my lap tauntingly.
I snarled and began to stand back up again but he managed to hold me down simply by keeping a hand on my shoulder. "Just let me go-"
"And what would be the fun in that, human?" his lips turned up into a menacing grin that made me want to punch him.
"Excuse me?" I seethed. Where the hell are my guards? Why isn't Steve and his merry gang kicking these emos' asses?
He ran the pad of his thumb along my lip and my entire body stiffened. Oh-ho, when Aro found out about this, this guy's ass would be grass, that's for sure, but unfortunately he wasn't here now. No, it was just me. I felt helpless against him, against either of them. Thanks Caius for your Volturi crest advice, look where it got me blondie.
"Even your pathetic Volturi guard will not save you, you worthless piece of scum," he taunted.
I suddenly became beyond angry, practically shaking in fury. "What the hell did you do to my guards?!"
"They simply met the fate they deserved, as will you," he spoke cryptically.
"What do you-?"
My sentence was interrupted as I felt a sharp sting on my other arm. I looked over to see the dark haired vampire holding a now empty needle with a sinister grin while a droplet of my blood gathered on my upper arm. The world felt like it was spinning in circles around me and I was losing control as it sped up faster and faster.
"What did you do you dickhead?" I managed to mumble, although I wasn't sure if my sentence was remotely coherent.
My head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure in my brain, and it stopped me from thinking, from even talking properly. The only thing I could faintly make out were the two figures looming over me, satisfied with their work.
"Sleep now, little bird," the blonde one laughed manically, soon joined by the other.
Any vision I had faded to nothing, and that nothingness faded to a blinding white. I wanted this to be over, I should've listened to Caius, I shouldn't have come. I just longed to be in my mates' arms again.
I wanted to go home.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: I left you on a cliff-hanger, I'm sorry. I think by this point I've made it pretty clear who kidnapped, no, abducted Eli. From here on out, things get pretty juicy in her life and everything sort of turns on its head, so look forward to that.
I also wanted to include a little friendship between her and Irina, and I know Eli was kinda shape-shifter-bashing here but the only one she met was Jacob and he was a dick soooo…
Also, I hope you guys don't feel like my daily updates are getting annoying or repetitive. Be warned that once quarantine is lifted, I probably will only update once or twice a week by the way.
Translations:
curvă mică italiană - little Italian whore
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love hearing your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!