Chapter Four
Alec
I had never been one to believe in things such as previous existence or reincarnation but that was the only way that I could make sense of how dammed I seemed to be, even in my immortal life. Fate had never been on my side. Even in what little I can remember about my human life, fate turned me into a boy hated by an entire village alongside my twin sister. So hated in fact, that my final moments of life ended at their hands.
Even now, centuries later, fate still proved to be a spiteful bitch.
It was no accident that I chose to spend my time away from humans. The only thing that they were good for was their blood but nothing more beyond that. Humans were nearly as reckless as newborn vampires. The only difference between them and a newborn vampire was that while newborns were slaves to their blood lust, humans were slaves to their emotions and sexual desires which made them irrational in their thought processes. Yet, fate decided that one was meant for me.
I still don't know what I did to deserve such a punishment. I had been alone for centuries without an issue or a longing for any sort of true romance and I was more than willing to live without it for centuries more.
"You seem troubled, brother." A soft voice, came from beside me as I made my way from my wing of the building, leaving Lorelei to wake on her own so that I wouldn't have to face her after our conversation from last night.
Jane's heels clicked against the floor as she began to follow my steps, even though she had no idea where my destination would be. It had always felt great to be a part of a coven but even greater than that, it was nice to have someone who's loyalties ran much stronger than being alike in nature. Our loyalty to one another had lasted decades longer than our loyalties to the Volturi, the two of us had much more than I could say for any other member.
"Is it that obvious?" I huffed sarcastically as I continued to walk ahead of her until she caught up with me, her shoulder brushing against mine to capture my gaze from where it had been focused before.
As I looked down at her, I took in her expression. Considering how young and naïve the two of us were when we were changed all those decades ago, and how powerful both of our gifts were, both of us were expected to carry ourselves in a reserved manner.
In the beginning, it was all very shocking. Day in and day out, we witnessed the violent murders of other vampires. We were expected to participate without hesitation and when we did, we were rewarded. When we didn't, we quickly learned that hesitation was not an option. Soon enough, we learned to numb ourselves to the pleas that those guilty vampires gave while we were around the masters. We participated in the taunting and soon enough, the killings and when the day was over, we would comfort one another in the privacy of our chambers. Until one day, it simply stopped phasing us.
All of the other emotions seemed to follow soon after. I wasn't passionate about anything or anyone unless it came to the safety of me or my sister. It was almost as if I had flicked a switch inside of myself turning off my emotions and yet here, she was, ruining the peace that even my sister had by adorning that look of concern over my pale twin's features.
As we walked, Jane must have grasped onto the idea of where I was heading before she spoke again. "What are you going to speak to them about?" She asked but where one would find curiosity in a typically young woman's gaze at such a question, her stare was hard. She didn't truly care about the fate of the girl, but she clearly wanted to know what was going on inside of my head.
"I can tell you all about it once the conversation has taken place, sister." I said, making my best effort to keep this conversation brief. The last thing that I needed was for her to try and talk me off of the ledge that I was nearing. I knew what I was walking myself into but at the very least, I needed to try.
By now, we had reached the doors to the master's chamber and I had turned to face the woman before me, standing just a couple of inches shorter than I. In this moment, I couldn't quite decern from her expression if she was upset or if she was surprised by my actions, but I didn't stick around to find out. With a simple nod, I turned on my heel and pushed the double doors open to find the three men seemingly in conversation which had ceased once I closed the doors behind myself, shutting my sister out.
"Well Alec, it isn't often that you visit alone." Said Aro as he crossed a leg over the other with an excited grin on his expression. "Have you come to discuss your mate?"
"Yes, I have decided what I want for her." I explained, glancing over all three men as they watched me with anticipation, Aro seeming the most intrigued.
"If you know what is best for you, I'm sure that you have decided to turn her." Marcus was the one that spoke up this time, sending an unfamiliar sense of anger through me. Suddenly, he was the master of fate? Deciding both who I would spend the rest of my life beside as well as whether or not that person would be dead or alive.
"It will be very exciting to have a new vampire here. Especially one mated to a vampire with such a powerful gift. I can only imagine the possibility of her abilities. I'm sure that fate would not disappoint." Aro spoke, sounding all too excited about my greatest miseries in life, per usual.
"I request that we allow her to leave." I said, turning my gaze toward a golden tile on the floor before meeting Aro's. I needed to assure that he knew that I was serious. "As a human."
"Well that simply cannot be arranged. I have never taken you as being daft Alec but, to request such a thing is just-"
"I won't kill her." I said, interrupting Caius for what felt like the first time in my immortal life. Even in my early days of uncertainty and fear, I never spoke out of turn with any of the master's. I was afraid of how much power they held over me at any given moment and, even in knowing how wrong it may have sounded, I admired them greatly. "I want nothing from her. She is of no use to me, so I ask that we let her leave. I trust that if she is given the right materials, she can start a new life and that if we are able to provide what she needs, she will be grateful to us."
"I've always known you to be young but, naïve as well?" Caius spoke again with cruelty dripping from his words. "If we allowed every human that walked through these doors to leave with the promise that they could keep a secret, we would certainly not be alive today to even have this conversation."
"What gives you reason to believe that she is trustworthy?" Marcus was next to speak, his voice sounding a bit more indifferent, as he usually did. I had never seen Marcus grow either too excited or too angry in my time here. "Have you given her reason to remain loyal to you in such a way?"
Despite how calm he remained, this too seemed to anger me mostly because I knew what he was trying to allow me to realize, that what I was requesting was irrational. Truthfully, I had no reason to believe that she wouldn't walk right out of the doors of this castle and into those of a police station to inform officers that she had both witnessed bloodshed and been abducted in a span of less than twenty-four hours.
"Alec," Our true leader and voice of reason spoke. "What you are asking of us is impossible and you know that already. She can either stay here with you and be your mate or you can allow her to leave. However, neither option ends with her continuing on as a human."
"Of course, if you are so concerned about upholding her human status. You may keep her that way in your memory after you've finished having her as a snack." Caius said coldly.
For the first time in my life, I was disgusted with the thought of killing a human for their blood. A false sense of heat rushed through my body then and I had to turn on my heel and release this anger by throwing open the double doors to the room so that I didn't get myself into a situation that I wouldn't be able to have control over.
Jane, my apparently nosey sister, gasped as she dodged the doors she had been standing against and as I began to storm past her, she was at my side just as she had been before. "Alec, I've never seen you lose your temper with the master's before." She said, sounding shocked as she kept her pace beside me. She would have to forgive me for not wanting to discuss this with her because more than anything, I wished to be alone with my thoughts in my own chamber.
"I've never been in a situation like this one before." I reminded her curtly as we made a swift turn in the direction of my destination.
"I'm not sure what I can do to help you right now." She admitted then, softly, almost as if she were thinking out loud by accident. "For the first time ever, I feel that I have no idea what you could be going through right now."
And she was right about that. She was lucky enough to not know what it was like to be paired to another person by fate at all. In fact, for the longest time I believed that the two of us were our own missing halves, in the most platonic sense of that statement.
I could tell that she felt bad about my situation and that she couldn't relate to how I felt but in that same sense, she knew exactly how I felt. She was uncertain of what my decision would be, as was I, and she felt hopeless when it came to comforting me and finding a solution to my problem. Hopelessness was becoming a major theme for me now considering that I both could not picture myself turning Lorelei into a vampire or killing her altogether.
"Knowing that you are so worried doesn't help my situation." I explained to her as we approached the hall of my destination and not even five seconds later, Lorelei rounded the corner of the other end of the hallway with Demetri at her side causing a sudden spark of curiosity to jolt through me.
I had no doubt in my mind that she was safe with him. I trusted him just as I trusted everyone else in the building but based on the smile that she was giving him, I couldn't help but to wonder why she chose to take comfort in this man knowing that him and I are no different in the ways that I know matter to her.
At the end of the day, he was as much of a monster as I was. He took part in the feeding that brought her here in the first place and yet, she hadn't given me even the slightest hint of a smile and for that, I couldn't take my eyes off of the two of them, her in particular considering her seemingly blissful state and his smug expression.
"You cannot expect for me to not care at all Alec. Seeing you upset like this over a human girl, bothers me to no end." She said and although I was no longer looking in her direction, I could feel her eyes burning into me until I could see her turn her head in my peripheral vision.
At the sight of the girl, my sister instantly fell silent and suddenly, it felt as though there was an overwhelming amount of tension in the air. Lorelei, who had once been in a seemingly pleasant conversation with Demetri, was no longer smiling as her steps slowed while she made her way down the hall. Demetri, who had also been enjoying the conversation, dropped his playful expression altogether as he led her toward us and Jane suddenly seemed stiff, as if she had no interest in staying around for long enough for introductions with my apparent mate.
"I was just returning the lady to her suite." Demetri said, wavering between a serious tone and playful words which no one seemed to find funny in the moment. Even Lorelei, who seemed to find the man to be quite pleasant moments earlier now looked as though she was a child about to be scolded for misbehavior after taking a glance at Jane who stood silently at my side.
"We should leave them then." Jane said in a matter-of-fact tone, giving me a single nod once her eyes finally left Lorelei's and she waited for no response from Demetri before she was turning on her heel and making her way down the hall in the same direction that we had come from just moments before. Demetri also took no time for goodbye's before he parted ways with us to follow Jane.
And just like that, the two of us were left alone, her thinking that she had any chance of survival after our conversation last night, and me knowing that no matter what options she would be given, none of them would end with a beating heart in her chest.
A/n: Thank you so much for reading! I apologize for the minor hiatus but as the semester becomes a bit more challenging, I've found that I have less motivation to write as often. I am however, considering making an attempt at composing a regular posting schedule for each of my stories, so we will see how that goes. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope that you leave a review, the feedback helps me stay motivated in writing!