Chapter 5: The Demon
Loxwood, England
As the years went by the twins slowly grew up. Once they were walking, Lila would often take them with her to gather herbs in the woods outside the village. The winter after they turned four, Avi was sent off to Normandy to fight in a battle. Lila always worried because she knew wars and battles were prime feeding grounds for vampires and often had newborn armies lurking in the catacombs and shadows. He made it home when he could but often went months without seeing his wife and children. Even though Alec was timid and barely ever talked, Lila joked that he was the man of the house. Jane normally talked for him and bossed him around from the time she could speak, like the older sister she was. Avi and Lila had a third child named Daniel. He had silver eyes and not a trace of magic in his blood.
Lila only had two fears. One was that Avi would never come home. The second was that the rest of the village would learn that they were a family of magic. For most, powers didn't surface until a witch was older, like twelve or thirteen. But for some reason theirs were triggered early.
Lila will never forget almost having a heart attack when Jane started playing with a doll made of straw while Lila was buying bread at the market and she made it burst into flames accidently. Or when Jane took something from Alec and he made all the candles in the house blowout at once. Most of the time, the twins were doing it subconsciously, not realizing what they were doing or that they had powers. If the villagers found out, they would kill them. If vampires found out, even worse. Now the twins were seven, Daniel was two and she hadn't seen Avi in three years.
At age five Lila had taught them how to read. It would be very important later on when they had to decipher spellbooks and grimoires. Trying to teach Jane was about as easy as giving a cat a bath. Alec on the other had quickly devoured books like fresh pieces of meat, memorizing pages and pages even for someone so young.
One night when Lila was gathering wolfsbane, she heard Jane talking to a stranger whose voice sounded familiar. Barely anyone traveled through the woods since they were known for monsters and thieves. When she went to go see who it was, she stopped dead when she realized she knew him. It was Avi, but he wasn't human anymore. His eyes glowed a rich red and he was as pale as snow, yet more handsome than she remembered. "Jane! Alec! Daniel! Come Here Now!" She ordered urgently trying not to cry. Grabbing their arms in a grip of steel, she fled black to their cottage. Avi did not follow, he just smirked almost amused.
"Who was that?," Jane asked innocently. "A monster. If you too ever see him again I want you to run and find me immediately. Understand?" Lila choked back a sob as she tried to keep her voice even and calm. They both nodded ignorantly confused. That night Lila cried knowing her true love was gone and in his place a vampire.
Later that night she felt herself get out of bed without thinking. Maybe she was sleep walking. "Where are you going, Mama?" Jane asked. She was the last person to see her leave. Barefoot, she walked outside and followed the path to the dark woods. Avi was there waiting. "Why did you take my children away from me?" he interrogated. "I was scared you would hurt them. You aren't their father anymore," She said dazed. "If the fact that I am a vampire makes me not their father, I could easily make you not their mother, love," He smirked sadistically before lunging for her neck and turning her into a blood sucking demon like him. "Being a vampire is so much better than a pathetic, weak human. We can now be unstoppable you and I. Perhaps when Jane, Alexander, Daniel are older I can turn them also. It's a gift really, my love." Lila screamed as the venom clawed its way through her veins. Once the transformation was complete, she vowed to never make contact with her children until she could control her thirst, in fear of hurting them. In time she forgave Avi and they traveled Europe together as mates. When she returned ten years later she learned that Jane and Alec had been burned at the stake as witches and were now dead. Daniel was happily working as an apprentice for their old neighbors, the silver smiths. After some convincing, Avi decided to let him live, blissfuly ignorant of the supernatural world.
Volterra Present day
Santiago, wanting to escape the tension brewing in the Building, had decided to sprint to catch a futebol game. Tonight Italy was playing Portugal. Hoping the fence, climbing under the bleachers and hanging from the rafters he had the perfect seat. Until he spotted a young woman who he saw sitting alone in the highest row of the stadium. How sad. Whenever Italy scored she would cheer, scream and dance by herself which made Santiago laugh. Intrigued he walked near her when she wasn't looking. When she noticed him, she jumped and then smiled offering him to sit next to her winking. She was pretty, with amber eyes, perfect teeth, sun streaked hair and an old futebol jersey. She had a figure and certain spark in her eyes that told him that she must play at least two sports. "COME ON, COME ON! SCORE!" She screamed not caring that a total stranger was staring at her.
Slowly throughout the game, Santiago learned that she had played futebol since she was five, thought 'The Other Guys' was the best movie so far, was single with two dogs, and her brother was one of the players on the team. The girl learned that he was from Portugal, temporarily working here as a body guard (not too far from the truth), 'Bend like Beckham' is not a chick flick, and he lived with his two "brothers" at the mansion he guarded. The game ended Italy five, Portugal three.
"My name is Christina, by the way. Would you care to grab a drink with me now that the game is over?," she flirted. Being polite, and for some reason he was interested in this human, he accepted. By the end of the night he had her number, lip stick on his cheek, and a secret girlfriend. Every night now Santiago snuck out of the Building and sprinted to meet his new found love. She did not know his secret and he thought that as long as she never found out, he technically wasn't breaking the rules.
Katherine now had a weird bulge in her stomach. Now she had come to the conclusion that she had been raped a couple days ago and whatever this thing was inside her wasn't human. Her parents had told her horror stories of demons who seduced women and used them as hosts for their devil spawn. But those were just stories her parents told her to scare her. For some odd reason she felt compelled to name it, just so that she could call whatever this thing was something. A couple weeks ago she had watch 'The Omen' and figured Damien was the perfect name for this demon child. Each day she had gotten weaker and weaker, probably since she hadn't eaten anything since she had been captured.
By the first week, she couldn't even sit up and spent almost every moment with a sense of impending doom. The only time she felt joy was the occasional nudge she would feel from inside her. Sometimes the nudge or kick from the baby would feel like she was snapping in two, but slowly it felt like Damien was trying to comfort her. She found herself deliriously saying prayers in Latin, or stories about her nephew Lorenzo, her sister Liz, and even her OCD religious parents. One morning she found herself unchained. Her captors probably figured out she was too weak to do much. With the little strength she had left she wrote a note for her hell spawn child her bible and tucked it between the mattresses. Hopefully he or she would find it one day.
On June sixth at six in the morning, after two and a half weeks of motherly Hell, she started coughing up blood and felt the baby move dramatically inside her. The baby couldn't breathe. It felt like it was going to die. It had to get out. Katherine screamed as the baby clawed its way out, desperate and threatened. It was a boy like she guessed. He had black hair like her, but odd glowing green eyes that scanned around the room like lasers. With her last bit of strength she wrapped him in one of the blankets that was on the bed and held him in her arms. Smiling and crying, she took her rosary and placed it around the tiny infant's neck, "Good bye, Damien. I love you." The last thing Katherine saw was her son's angel face and sunrise out the window.
This was not going to be good. The baby came way too early. Most pregnancies lasted at least a month, this one lasted two and a half weeks. The baby was probably already dead. Alec thought all this as he walked up to the room where he had trapped the human. Placing his ear to the door, he heard slow breathing and a heartbeat that sounded like humming bird wings. Opening the door, he found the dead human holding a bundle of fabric in her arms. Walking slowly up to the baby, he saw its eyes were closed. Not again. Hope deflating, he reached to pick up the bundle to snap the things neck, hoping to do it a favor and end its pathetic life. But as soon as he touch the blanket, the baby gasped and looked back at him with terrified green eyes. Alec almost sang for joy, this one was hopefully going to live. Picking up the baby, he realized how much smaller it was than the last one. It was definitely pre-mature, which might cause complications.
He took it into the bathroom to wash off some of the gore from ripping itself from its mother's stomach. Oddly enough he found a black, wooden rosary around the baby's neck. He recognized it as the human's. Sighing, he decided to keep it on. The baby deserved to have at least one thing to remember its mother, even if she was dead.
Alec found out it was a boy again. He hadn't really thought of any names, maybe Jane would have some ideas. Alec walked back to his room to grab some clothes for the baby. When the wives found out there were going to be 'cute' babies involved, they quickly stole Aro & Caius' credit cards and went shopping for baby clothes. By the amount of pink they bought, he knew they would be greatly disappointed that he had another boy.
After placing the small boy in a navy onesie that was way too big and feeding the baby a bottle of microwaved blood that disappeared rather quickly, Alec took him to the throne room knowing that Aro and Caius would want to see him right away. Plus Jane would kill her brother if she didn't get to be the first one to hold her new nephew. For some reason Alec couldn't stop smiling. It felt weird. Glazing back at his son he realized he had fallen asleep again, resting his too large head on Alec's shoulder. With one hand he opened the door, "Jane would you like to meet your new nephew," Alec had no idea was he was so excited, he just was.
Jane ran across the room, smiling so much it had to be painful. Startled the baby's eyes snapped open. Jane stopped suddenly as if she had seen a ghost. "Alec, his eyes! Look at them," Jane snapped warily. Before when Alec had looked at his son's eye color they were a dark, swampy green. Now they were a brilliant, glowing shade that could be seen at least a mile away. They were the color that he and his sister's had been when they were human. It was almost freaky. Somehow the baby realized everyone was staring at him, so he hid his face in the crook of Alec's neck. "Well he's for sure your kid," Jane laughed trying to break the tension. Slowly she took her nephew in her arms. At first the baby went rigid, and then relaxed but still glanced back at Alec for reassurance. Aro asked next to hold him.
As soon as Aro touched him, the baby screamed in panic almost as if it was in pain as Aro jumped back like he had been electrocuted. "That's odd," was all he said with a furrowed brow. Jane handed the boy back to Alec, who now acted like nothing had happened. Heidi, trying to distract everyone, asked, "Do you have any ideas for a name?" Caius snorted, "This thing is nothing more than a test subject. How about subject two? The dead thing can be subject one?" Realizing how unpopular that idea was among the guards, Aro had an idea, "I only got a small bit of his thought, but apparently his mother started calling him Damien and he really likes it for some reason."
It seemed like a fitting name for some odd reason. "I think Felix should be his middle name," Felix suggested. "Well why not Demitri?" argued Demitri. "Santiago is more exotic," Santiago chimed. "If we aren't going with my brilliant idea of just giving him a number, he could at least have Caius as a middle name," Caius huffed. Rolling her eyes Jane suggested that just have Damien's middle name be Alexander just to shut everyone up. "Damien Alexander Volturi. It flows oddly enough," Chelsea said halfheartedly. So it was decided.
Aro suggested holding him again to see if he could figure out what Damien's powers were, and this time he didn't panic…as much. But entire time Damien didn't really want to be held either and kept wriggling and squirming. He was either staring out the window, at the paintings lining the wall, or at the different guards glowing in the sunlight from the skylight above. Who's holding me, his grip is way too tight and his hands are cold. I want to be put down now. Where's Alec, there he is. I'm confused. Right now he was transfixed by Heidi's hair, which screamed to be pulled. Where's mom? But Jane's was a really pretty gold color. He wondered what that dark, warm liquid was that he drank earlier, it was really good and he wanted more. Where's mom? Aro, put me down this instant or I will bite you. What's that bright object outside? What is going on? Where's mom? The guy with the pale hair is really mean, I don't like him. Aro, I do not like to be man handled. Why are everyone's voices so loud? Give me back to Jane or Alec or you will burn in Hell. The guy in the corner with dark hair look sad. Where's mom? He smelled something outside, it was really sweet. Good, Alec is still there. Why is Aro looking at me like that? The man in the corner is really shiny. I'm hungry. I really really want Alec to take me back, NOW.
Aro handed him back bewildered that something so small could think so much in a matter of seconds. Everyone was holding their breaths seeing if Aro could say that he knew what Damien's power was. "I'm not sure what his power is. Reading his thoughts…they are very confusing and dizzying. I could only make out a little bit because they seemed to be going a thousand miles per hour. The only power I could possibly is that he is thoughts are very hyper active. He notices about a million things at once. Somehow he knows everyone's names and maybe knew I was a mind reader. I'm not sure psychic ADHD is a power, but it's my best guess".
It made sense. Perhaps the opposite of Alec's power was being hyper active and having acute senses. Wasn't the most powerful, but it was a lot better deal than what his half-brother got. Heidi smiled politely and asked to try holding him next. She was much gentler than Aro and Damien protested less. "He looks a lot like you. His hair is raven black like his mom's, face thinner, and lips fuller but everything else is all you. Especially the nose and eyes, he has your almond shape and long lashes," she commented as Damien started playing with her hair and earrings. He started giggling a laugh than sounded like sweet little bells randomly and Heidi turned to find Felix and Demitri making faces at Damien and she couldn't help but laugh too. Demitri seemed to smile more when she laughed. Felix she expected to be childish, but it was refreshing to see Demitri having fun considering how cold and serious he was normally. She liked him better when he relaxed and let loose.
The wives next were gushing and talking how they could dress him up like a doll and how cute his cheeks were and other estrogen stoked mush. As soon as they started to walk towards him, Damien's heart sped up and he held his arms out to Alec signaling he did not want to be held by them and he wanted to be taken back. Once Alec was holding him again, his heart slowed down, his eyes itched and head felt really heavy. Rubbing his face he rested his head on Alec's shoulder. "He looks really tired, maybe we should put him off to bed," Jane suggested. She also knew that they game of pass the baby could go on forever and if this kid was anything like her brother, he probably hated being held.
Alec realized that they didn't have a crib. So picking between using a laundry basket full of towels or a box, he chose to just hold Damien while Alec read on the small couch in his room. He grabbed a soft black knit, blanket and wrapped the baby in it. Laying down slowly, with Damien facing him, he picked up the book he was about to start, 'The Odyssey'. He had read it about a hundred times, but always thought it was a fantastic story. Damien roused curious by the paper object in his hand, looking waiting for him to open and possibly read it. Thinking what the heck, he started reading aloud the first book, with Damien listening. By the last page in Book One, Damien was deeply asleep lying asleep curled up on Alec's chest. Checking the time, Alec realized it was 9:12am.
Damien didn't wake up until around 6:15pm. Demitri, being a science enthusiast, suggested weighing and measuring Damien each day so keep track of his rapid. "Four pounds, two ounces. Nine and a quarter inches. He's small for a newborn. Yet he's stronger, which is definitely the vampire in him. Most newborns can't lift their heads or move at all. This one is a mover and is constantly active," Demitri noted marking everything in a spiral notebook. Out of curiosity he tried to see if Damien could sit up on his own. He sat up for a couple seconds before falling backwards and lying on his back. There he proceeded to try and roll on to his tummy, which proved to be harder than it looked. A couple minutes later he got it and pushed his upper body up and smile victoriously at Jane.
Demitri also measured the amount of blood Damien drank throughout his first week. At first it was six ounces, three times a day or rather night. Damien tended to sleep all during the day and be active all night long. Jane had the idea of mixing a little bit of baby formula in his bottle with the blood, since Damien was still very much underweight only gaining two ounces since he was born. Slowly he got to be at least the normal size a newborn in a couple days. By the end of the week he looked to be about four months old, was able to sit up on his own, roll around, and stand up if someone was holding both his hands. The only thing that everyone found surprising was that he barely made noise. Except for the occasional grunt or whimper to signal that he was hungry or uncomfortable, or when Felix tried to make him laugh (which only worked sometimes, other times it scared Damien), never made a sound. Not a single infant wail, cry, or baby babble vowels.
Another thing that was weird was that Damien was not venomous. They had heard from Nahuel when they were battling the Cullens that most if not all male hybrids were venomous. Jane and Alec were quiet happy about this considering if Damien went too long without being fed he tended to nip or bite lightly. Alec couldn't wait until Damien would be able to hunt for himself because it was difficult to control his own thirst whenever he was getting a bottle for Damien. The microwave door was a savior sometimes. Luckily Jane helped out sometimes, even though Chelsea dubbed her and Alec "teen mom" or "little miss sixteen and pregnant". Jane would just remind her that she was only fifteen and she was just jealous that she couldn't have a kid.
Jane loved it when ever Damien gave Chelsea the stink eye when she tried to hold him, even better when he nipped her. Alec never knew a child so young could pick favorites. The only people Damien ever allowed to be held by willingly were Alec, Jane, and occasionally Demitri or Heidi. If anyone else tried he would bury his face in Alec's chest, cling to his shoulders, and struggle out his captors grasp sometimes to the point where they would nearly drop him. For some reason Alec liked that Damien didn't really like anyone else but him and Jane. It made the three of them feel like family, especially since they were the only ones in the guard who were related by blood.
Jane was almost always willing to help out with Damien. The few times Aro needed him to do a quick chore, or Demitri needed help with something, or whatever random thing someone needed help with, Jane would often hold Damien. While Damien normally slept during the day with Alec, Jane was better about getting him to fall asleep with naps during the night. He caught her resting him on her hip, swaying back and forth humming a random tune with Damien fighting to keep his eyes open, but eventually being subdue by the soothing vibration and feel of Jane slowly rubbing circles on his back with her thumb. For some odd reason, it reminded Alec of when they were younger, after their mom had disappeared, about how Jane was the one who looked after Daniel the most. It made him happy with sadness to see one of the most damaged, sadistic killers have such a maternal instinct.
Alec found himself smiling and talking more, just randomly narrating things that were going on or reading thing allowed. Damien always seemed interested or would give him confused looks asking him to explain more. At about two weeks old, he looked about nine months old. Slowly whenever Alec read a book in the Odyssey, Damien's eyes would be scanning the words almost if he was reading them too. Out of curiosity, Alec wrote Point to your nose on a piece of paper. Damien pointed to his nose. Raise your right hand. Damien raised his left and then realized it was the wrong hand and switched. Hoping to trip him up he wrote 'Vel ad ostium '(point to the door in Latin). He pointed to the door. Amazed he ran into the Television room to find the other guards. "Quick, write random simple commands in as many languages as possible," he ordered, "I think I might have figured out Damien's power".
Demetri wrote several in Russian and Slavic. Heidi wrote a couple in German and French. Santiago wrote three in Portuguese, four in Spanish. Damien did them all from 'point to your toes' to 'touch your ears' to 'point south' flawlessly. "Maybe we can try saying commands and see if he can understand them orally," Demitri suggested. Again, he was able to 'stick out his tongue', 'wiggle his fingers', and 'point to the tv' in about ten different languages. Even Marcus, who hadn't said anything in weeks, spoke up "Toccare il mento" (touch your chin in Italian). Damien pointed to the window. Marcus smirked, "Puntare al divano" (Point to the couch). Damien grabbed his owns ear and looked bewildered with a dash of confused. "Perhaps it doesn't always work," Alec sighed. He should probably go see Aro to see if he could figure out what was going on with his son.
Aro again had difficulty reading Damien's thoughts. "From what I can guess, every language looks the same to him. It's like his eyes and ears have a built it decoder. I'm still not sure if this is a power or not," Aro's brow furrowed and looked like he about to go into his scary plotting slash thinking mode. "Perhaps, we could ask Elezar to pay us a visit? Maybe he will have an insight on the ordeal?" Marcus suggested. It was the most logical idea.
"No that is a ridiculous idea. Elezar is an ally and close friend to the Cullens. It would be best if we kept any and all hybrids a secret until we know for sure how we can use them," Caius argued with a voice that could freeze fire, "After all it was probably just luck that the thing guess what people were saying or writing. He failed to do what Marcus wrote and said, so whatever he can do is faulty at best and is not fool-proof."
And so it was decided that the Volturi themselves would try and figure out what Damien's gift was. It was also agreed that he and any future hybrids would be kept secret from other vampires and the outside world as long as possible.
Forks, Washington
Renesmee was close to breaking the car in half she was so excited. Momma and daddy said she could now have play dates at Jacob's house! The rapid hybrid aging had slowed significantly in comparison to when she was first born. They guessed that she looked like a big six year old or a small seven year old now and Bella almost had to lecture Edward that Nessie had to learn how to be more independent, keeping her so close to them did more harm than good, and that both Jacob and Nessie had been deeply depressed lately. So daddy now allowed her to spend every Monday and Thursday, ten in the morning to three in the afternoon to let Jacob babysit, especially since Bella promised that they could now spend more time alone together.
As they pulled up the gravel driveway, Edward complained about it scratching his car as Nessie sprung from the car to jump into Jacob's arms. "Jake! Jake! Jake! I just finished a new math workbook," she squealed proudly. Esmee had gotten her a few paper back workbooks to help with homeschooling. This morning she had finished the Algebra II book she started last week, all three hundred pages of it. Every time she finished a workbook, she got to have control of the TV for a full twenty-four hours. It was like pure gold since she was too young, or more like too sheltered, to get any of the south park episodes Uncle Emmett always watch, not smart enough to get the documentaries Grandpa Carlisle and Uncle Jasper watch, and didn't find the Bachelor all that amazing like Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosie.
Edward watched with a critical glare as his baby girl and the dog walking inside and shut the door. I hope Nessie knows tea parties only work when you drink tea, otherwise they are just pointless. Oh God no! Not the pink tiara. Wait is that a camera in Pop's hands. FML, Edward laughed as he read Jacob's thoughts. "Watch you language, Jacob. I know plenty well what 'FML' means," Edward yelled from outside. Then he froze when he heard, "Jake, what does 'FML' mean?" Renesmee asked innocently.
Knowing Edward was right outside, Jacob chose his words very carefully, "Friends making laughs. I was just thinking about how funny it is that you hate the taste of tea, yet you always want to have tea parties."
Her eyes went wide with an amazing idea, "Wait, can we use blood instead of tea? Pretty please with a cherry on top. Please!"
"Absolutely not!" Billy said firmly. He was tickled pink Jacob finally imprinted, but he wasn't too keen on the imprintee being a bloodsucker.
Edward drove out of the driveway slowly and high tailed it back home where Bella was waiting. The spent all day alone together in their cottage. Maybe Renesmee spending time with Jacob wasn't so bad.