"Someone needs to call the twins," Heidi shook her head still in shock as Demetri rubbed the top of her hand soothingly. "I already tried. The number did not seem to work and must have been out of service," Demetri swallowed uselessly trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. Tonight still did not seem real. Corin had been murdered by the killer that still haunted these cursed halls and the only remaining son of Alec had died not a metre away from him. They had gotten rid of Corin's body. Aro said it served no use to him. Joham asked to keep Damien's to study. Even after death he still served as a lab rat. Tonight could not have been real.
Tiago stared at the ceiling feeling the numbness as he tried to process what had happened in the training room. It all had happened so fast and now things felt like they were moving in slow motion. The pipes had burst. The room had filled with water. They had panicked. They almost drowned. They left the basement. And somehow in that time frame Damien had died. Tomorrow would not be another day. He would sit across from only Marina and Olivia. He would only spar Olivia now. He would be the only male dhampir remaining besides Donovan who still felt like he was not that same as them. He could hear the pitter of feet and the sweet scent of vanilla. His door creaked open as a small girl in a white nightgown stood in the ray of light quivering. "Can I sleep with you tonight? I don't want to be alone," she whimpered. Heidi had helped her take off her cold, wet dress. Helped her robotically turn on the hot water for the shower. Dressed like a cold china doll. And all Marina could think of was how Heidi's cold hands had felt like Damien's dead body. Her human side craved warmth and to know what life felt like again. She had even shied away from her father's hug, cringing at the frozen corpse that was her family. Normally Tiago would have been excited by the idea of Marina sneaking into his room, but now he bit his lip and nodded grimly as he pealed the covers back to let her in. "You're so warm," she sighed as she clung to his copper skin. He forgot he wasn't wearing a shirt and blushed suddenly. He could feel the dampness of her cheeks and clamminess of her finger. The tremble of her lips and shaky breathing as she tried to stop herself from crying anymore. Curling on his side, he held her close to his chest and stroked her pale hair as her breathing slowed. "It's going to be okay," he honestly did not know what to say. But he had to say something. "I'm sorry I fought him the night I found out Felix wasn't my real dad. I'm sorry I made fun of him all the time. It just seems so stupid and messed up now," he choked out trying not to cry as well. They both laid in silence, listening to the sound of the other's heart beats. When she finally fell asleep with salted eyes, he chastely kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay," he repeated again to himself.
"Merci," Joan mouthed not quite figuring out how to speak anymore. She blankly watched Donovan hand her the steaming mug before sitting across from her at the cramped kitchen two seated table. She remembered having Damien needing to kneel on the exact same seat to be high enough to eat a poorly made dinner of mac and cheese as he helped her with her evening crossword. "He will be back," Donovan tried to look her in the eyes, grasping her fragile human hand firmly, "He's not gone forever." She just shook her head, "I have heard that about my parents. About my brother. Twice now. I have told client after client that exact phrase. Damien is not coming back. I need to realize that and move on." Donovan smiled to himself. She was an entertaining human. She saw reality for what it was. The only problem was reality and fantasy where not so black and white. "We will see him again."
Bella and Edward closed the taxi door as Carlisle took shot gun next to the driver. We will discuss this when we get home, Carlisle thought. Edward nodded. There had been a murder. A member of the immortal Volturi was found dead in the hallways. This had all happened under everyone's noses. And Edward had not heard a single thought. Their new shield had blocked everything. A half vampire amongst the Guard who could not only block his own telepathy, but was the reason Alice could no longer see their futures. This new shield now placed both families in a stale mate in this cold war for supposed security. It didn't matter that the Volturi had a weapon like Alec because it could be neutralized by Bella before it even hit them. It didn't matter if the Cullens had Alice because Donovan could block any foresights of the future. It now also meant that the supposed desired pieces for Aro'c collection now held no true value in saving if an incident were to come up again. This changed things. The plane ride was silent as Bella kept shooting him questioning glances. "Will we tell Renessme about what happened? The murder?" she asked so quietly even Edward had to lean into hear. He shook his head. The Volturi would not want this getting out. If they followed their wish of temporary secrecy, it would secure a temporary peace between their Covens. And it was evident there was a worse threat than Aro's greed. Edward looked over to Carlisle across the alleyway. Images of Demetri dripping wet from head to toe with no logical explanation and exchanging thoughts with Aro. Of Aro's outburst. Whatever Demetri had told him was worse than the murder of his Guards. Something seemed off about their new member. Something else was happening behind the scenes that the Volturi did not want them knowing.
Jane and Alec watched as One knelt slowly gathering his composure. The snow was stained red around them as the mangled body bled freely. Oddly even though she was dead, her bones seemed to be knitting back together and skin growing itself at a rapid rate. Roman checked his watch, noting the time. She had died before, but never after sustaining this many injuries. "We give it an hour?" Kotsya asked, "Then we continue?"
Alec knew they had to keep going. They were wasting time. They were on a mission. They needed to stop getting held back by strangers and needed to take the opportunity to make a run for it while these two were distracted. He tapped Jane on the shoulder and nodded his head to indicate for them to take their leave. The sooner the mission was completed the sooner he could get back to his son.
Jane looked down at the girl she now guessed was Asya. She looked young, only a year at most older than her. She had died protecting all of them without blinking, even dying with her eyes open. They could at least help bury her. Given the similar features and colouring of the other two dhampirs perhaps she was their sister. She started get up to help move the body so it wasn't trapped frozen in this undignified pose, twisted by the ice. One quickly stopped her, "No!" he slapped her arm away. He held up one finger and taped his watch indicating the hour marker. Jane understood something about one hour. They could spare an hour. She had a feeling whoever these dhampirs were, there were more of them due to their matching uniforms. Better to stay friendly and make allies than run away only to be surprised by more trouble ahead.
Asya took in as much as she could, memorizing faces, sizing up who was a threat, if there was even an immediate threat. She noted a clear path through the woods that could serve as an escape. It was just a matter if she wanted to ditch the kid or not. For now only wild eyes watched her as she was lead around their little encampment. She could use this temporary peace to learn as much as she could about them and how they operated. Many of the dhampirs had sweatshirts or clothing that said "NYC" or some sort of sports fan wear for "Giants" or "Yankees" or even "Rangers". All their clothes seemed rather modern. Something must have happened if this many dhampirs died with such a common demographic.
Damien looked at the dark haired young man. Everything about him set him on edge. The way he held out his hand expecting something from him even though it was masked though a gesture of welcome and friendship. It reminded him too much of someone of the Volturi. Damien noted that his sleeve on his own shirt were still long enough to just have his fingertips poke through. As smoothly as he could, Damien lifted his arm at a constant speed while shrinking it into his sleeve to hide any potential skin. The boy called Hadley didn't want to break his composure either to give away anything more to this stranger. He shook the clothed hand screaming with rage and frustration internally. How could this small child out smart him? "You know it's rude to cover your hand while shaking hands with a superior?" Hadley joked.
"I'll keep that in mind when I meet one," Damien smirked raising one eyebrow.
"So Damien from England. Who is your father?" Hadley was suddenly very unsure of this boy. Damien didn't seem scared of him, just cautious. Somehow he seemed to know about him without anyone telling him. Perhaps he was a mind reader?
"No one, he left when I was a baby. I rarely see him. Just the occasional check in," Damien said earnestly. Hadley hated not being able to tell if this kid was lying. By the disgruntle and underlying anger with the terribly concealed pain in his eyes, Hadley guessed that the kid was telling the truth. He too held the curse of parental abandonment.
"Do you have any sort of gift? Perhaps something you inherited from your father?" Hadley prodded noting that Damien had dark hair like him. Some Mediterranean features but it ended there. Just something about him seemed alarmingly familiar like he had seen him before. The green eyes threw him for a loop. He had only seen eyes that green twice in his life. His mind was quickening.
"Yes I have a gift similar to my father," Damien chose his words carefully and was now seeing flashes for Aro in the corner of his vision when he looked at Hadley. Now it made sense. Trusting his gut, he guessed Hadley was Aro's. Hadley was seeing if Damien was potentially Aro's too. The thought of that being even remotely true in either ownership biologically or through material possession made his stomach turn. But given the hatred radiating off him whenever he talked about any sort of father, Hadley potentially hated Aro too. A common enemy. These odd red sparks kept bouncing off Hadley whenever Aro was mentioned as well. This was strange. Since the other dhampir wasn't noticing them it had to be related to Damien's gift. Damien just needed to be cautious and stay two steps ahead of Hadley. He had the advantage of being able to use his power at a distance while Hadley still needed skin to skin contact. He just needed to keep this up and play his cards right. Something silver glinted on Hadley's left hand. A ring. It kept grabbing Damien's attention like it was important.
"Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of the Volturi?" Hadley cocked his head still trying to figure Damien out. Why was he so hard to read? But when he mentioned the Volturi his eyes had widen slightly indicating personal recognition. He must have met them at one point. Finally progress. "Aro and Caius are nothing more than tyrants," Damien hissed with venom, adding emphasis on Aro's name seeing what reaction he could spark from Hadley. It sparked more anger, not project at him but at Aro.
"Mind if I ask my own question? How did you die? I'm new here and still trying to figure out the whole dying thing," Damien shrugged acting innocent.
"Those spoiled fuckers Jane and Alec. My supposed friend framed me and convinced them to kill me and almost half the people here," Hadley barred his teeth in rage. Damien tried to keep him face calm when Jane and Alec were mentioned. The sparks had turned green now. Although Hadley's exterior mood had not shifted, the colors indicated otherwise. Maybe red meant angry? But did green mean potentially envy or jealously. Hadley was envious of Jane and Alec. "I see we both are not fans of the Volturi then," Damien faked a smile. He was fucked if Hadley realized he was the son of one of those spoiled fuckers and had grown up in Volterra. Hadley would probably take all of his anger towards the twins out on him for no reason, even though he isn't associated with them. But this friend? Was this supposedly Donovan? Hadley kept glancing at his eyes nervously, like he knew what they meant. Donovan had said he had made a shield necklace before, like his rosary. He wasn't ready yet to test his theory of his rosary protecting him from mind reading. He was in an isolated spot where if things went south he would be trapped with Hadley. He needed to find Asya and leave as soon as possible before anyone learned who he really was.
"No, we are actually plotting how to destroy them," Hadley's eyes lit up like Aro's when explaining a grand idea the sparks now turning yellow with happiness, "But the only problem is that all of our bodies were burned beyond repair and we are trapped here forever. You said you drowned? I'd say you are going to wake up any minute now and return to the world of the living. We need dhampirs like you. Here we can safely devise plans and train. Then those who can return will and we can lead a surprise attack against the Volturi and end them once and for all. What do you say?"
"Patricide?" Damien huffed realizing the irony in not indicating which of the Volturi his father was and who he was aiming his quip at.
"The fuck did you say punk?" Hadley growled. How the hell did this kid know who his father was? If anyone else found out who his father was there would be a mutiny amongst the group. He grabbed the little shit by the throat and dug his sharpened nails into him as he hoisted him into the air slamming him against the cave wall. Damien was shocked he didn't feel any pain. Hadley was shocked that somehow skin on skin and he was getting nothing from Damien's thought. Damien started laughing at this, kicking his feet jovially just to piss Hadley off even more. "I said that sounds like a great idea and something I would happily get on board with." Hadley slowly let him go watching as Damien dropped unfazed and walked out of the cave.
Damien quickly found Asya. Oddly no one stopped them from sitting on the edge of the clearing alone. He noticed she let off these dull blue sparks. She was calm. "This whole operation is part of a greater plot to take down the Volturi. But they are recruiting dhampirs like us to be shuttle back to the living and carry out the physical work," Damien whispered to his new found ally. She kept hearing the conversation between the Count and the leader of the wolves before he bit Anzor on her watch and she had in return killed the werewolf. The Count wanted to become allies with the Volturi. She had met the two twins of the Volturi shortly before she had died. They were not what she was expecting. Weaker. Perhaps the Volturi could be taken out in one swoop and then dhampirs could take over monitoring the immortal world. It was a thought. What was interesting was why was this small boy so invested in ending the Volturi? And why did he resemble the Volturi Twins?
"So what? Are you joining? One child against the Volturi? I bet you don't even know where Volterra is!" Asya laughed. It was commendable that this kid was so brave. "Yeah, I think I could really help," Damien mused. Asya was amazed how ridiculous this kid was, "And how? My advice is that when you wake up you pack your bags and get as far away from this craziness as possible. You have no business with the Volturi."
Damien had to hold back a smile. The irony of the situation was almost comical. Never in his life did he feel more in control. Finally he was using his gift for something useful and it was saving his life. His rosary protected him from Hadley meaning he could share only what he wanted to with him. He could potentially reveal what he needed to and spin it as he saw fit. Already Donovan was working to take down the Volturi secretly from the inside out. If that plan were to somehow get combined with whatever Hadley's was, he could be handing out Aro's fingers as jewelry as a Christmas present next winter.
"Fine I'm in. But as soon as things get funky I'm out," Asya sighed crossing her arms.
Damien went back to find Hadley. "I would like to apologize for angering you, master," Damien tried to hold back laughter saying this. Hadley spun on his heels being called 'master'.
"You really are a smart aleck, aren't you?" No, just his out of wedlock offspring, Damien snorted mentally. "I would like to maybe provide answers to some of your questions, but on the condition that they stay confidential between you and I. If you keep my secret, then I won't tell anyone you are secretly some bastard unloved child between Aro and probably some cheap crab ridden whore, Freud wet dream," Damien was slowly learning that maybe he was a little bit of a sadist like his Aunt because he never expected pissing Hadley off to be this much fun. Maybe because he looked and acted like Aro and it was fueling his satisfaction of fighting back.
For as angry Hadley was with this little fucker, he valued knowledge like gold, "Okay go on." The two boys disappeared in secret, careful that no one was listening. Damien had thought through his word choice very carefully.
"The Volturi have begun experimenting with dhampirs ever since they learned of their existence about a year ago. I was offered up as one of the lab rats. I know the Building better than anyone. And more importantly I know the Guard better than anyone. When I wake up, I could sneak into the Building without a second glance. All the Volturi has done is make my life and the lives of the people I care about Hell."
"Prove you aren't a spy," Hadley snapped suddenly warier of the small child. The boy lifted up his shirt to show the ugly, harsh scars. He showed Hadley the scars from the syringe. The watch he was made to wear that monitored his vitals which now lay silent.
"We heard something about this from another who was passing through. Some kid claiming to be the son of Alec," Hadley gave a half smile remembering how ridiculous the kid had been.
This made Damien freeze, "Did he perhaps have blonde hair?"
"Yeah I think so," Hadley recollected, "He sure as hell hated the Volturi as well. What are they doing to you guys? Not buying the right pony? Sinks are made of gold not platinum?"
"Well there is the occasional torture and being locked up for the rest of our lives that really puts a damper on things," Damien shrugged.
"Out of curiosity? Did a guy named Donovan ever show up at the castle? If he did, don't trust a word he says. He framed me for everything. Thought he was my best friend and even thought of him as an older brother. He will raise hell then leave you in the dust to take the fall," Hadley spoke with fire as the red sparks came back. Damien could tell he was telling the truth. The hard part was Damien could never read Donovan and couldn't tell if he ever was.
Both could see being friends with the other. This time they shook for real. Damien held back a smile when he snagged Hadley's ring without the older dhampir noticing. He would study it later and learn more about this spawn of Aro.
Now it was just a waiting game of when Asya & Damien would wake up. Bored and needing something familiar, Asya chose to join in with a group of fighters who were rolling around with swinging fists. They obviously were amateurs. She casually walked up grabbing one by the throat and kneeling on the chest of the other. "I win," she smiled. She noted out the corner of her eye their supposed Prince of the Damned watched as she torn apart the two without blinking. How now everyone wanted to take a crack at taking down the new girl, who moves faster than wind. She was good. They needed fighters like her and potentially teacher like her. Eventually is dissolved into her becoming the new trainer for combat. Damien watched her. She was small and light. He had only ever seen Felix's brute and slow style. She used intuition and her small size to her advantage. He could learn something from her. Soon he was in the group learning as well, training hard than he ever had before. Here he never felt short of breath, over heated or tired. He training for hours and hours, learning the movements. He finally felt strong and dangerous. Even being the youngest, he was figuring out how to fight and how to win. He was finally able to let his gift run wild unafraid of consequences. The living world was in for a surprise when he woke up.
On the occasional breaks Damien would sit at the clearing with Asya. She seemed to keep her family and past a secret as well but every now and then he would catch glimpses of it. She liked that he never pressed her for the rest while everyone else seemed to ask where she was from. Damien was just happy to have a friend. Hadley was now a friend, but the qualities inherited form Aro made it hard for Damien to like him and he needed to keep his distance with Hadley. His gift somehow was revealing to him that Asya he could trust. He didn't know why he liked being alone with her or admired her, he just did. That and the dull blue sparks that floated around her helped him feel calm. Every now and then when she was lost in thought they would flicker out and turn a cold grey like her eyes. Red would find its way in this cloud, but it wasn't anger. It was bravery. Hopefully one day they would meet in the mortal world. When he broke free of the Volturi, he would find her.
Every now and then Damien caught Asya staring and pausing. She would start shivering violently like a gust of wind had hit her. She could tell that she was healing in the mortal world and would be waking up soon. "How will I tell when I'm going to wake up?" he asked her, nervous since he hadn't felt anything besides the normal chill of where ever they were. "You start feeling these weird sensations relating back to how you died. Like you drowned right? You might start feeling really heavy suddenly or really wet or like your lunges hurt even though nothing has changed," she answered while looking over her shoulder, listening in the wind. Damien had been slowly feeling odd. Like this weird stabbing pain in his chest and once down his wrists. One day they were sitting at their clearing. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked nervous. He could tell it was something about her family. Damien nodded. "I –
Then she disappeared into thin air.
Jane jumped when the body suddenly spasmed, jolting violently. She curled up on her side gasping for air, grey eyes opened wide in shock. "A new record," Kotsya noted calmly while Roman hugged her tight before helping her up. "Are you okay to walk?" he checked stopping himself when she took off running even though her legs welt wobbly. "You slow pokes coming?" she called. Jane and Alec followed completely confused as to what just happened. They reached the town shortly after, just missing the sun. At dusk they would make the final stretch and reach their destination.
Joham looked at the specimen. The water had been drained from the air ways. The room had been chilled to preserve the body that lay shirtless on the table. The skin was a bleached as the paper he took his notes one, blue lines with ink and veins. He opened the eyes to find them dilated like a humans. He left them open. They were such a pretty green after all. The jaw and all muscles remained slacked. With a Q-tip he swabbed the mouth curious as to why this male was not venomous. He measured the body. Oddly no swelling or bloating was present. He took clippings of hair, placing them in vials for safe keeping. A full day had passed and no decay was evident in the body. Fascinating. Wanting skin samples, he took his scalpel and began to cut a square of flesh off the dead child chest. He placed the bloody chunk on the tray, observing each layer and the finer working of dhampir skin. He measured the piece as a ten centimetre by ten centimetre piece. He poked the severed nerves, excited by the opportunity to finally see how these creatures ticked.
When he finally had his fill of fun with that chunk of skin, he returned to the creature. He planned to cut deeper, perhaps harvest some of subject two's muscles and tendons. Then maybe bone. But when he looked, the section of missing skin seemed oddly small. Measuring it, the body read seven centimetres by seven centimetres. The creature was healing itself even after death. He nearly fell out of his chair Joham was so amazed. While obvious life had left the body, the cells still remained active. Quickly he cut deeper, slicing down the centre of subject two's chest like a high school biology project. Using staples, he forced the skin to stay pulled away as he looked at the muscles work to knit themselves back together. He felt like Victor Frankenstein, slicing into the creature's wrist, pulling the web like veins and tendons apart, wiping the splattered blood off his face when they burst.
"Well aren't you a magnificent creature?" Joham asked the boy looking deep into his open eyes. For a second he swore he saw a glimmer in his eyes. A flash of pain. Ignoring it, he continued his work. He quickly found the lunges, the heart, his stomach and all sorts of other wonderful guts. He took measurements of each, sketching as accurately as possible. The bones seemed to be made of a hard crystal material, similar to a vampire's skin. He chipped a piece of his rib off and put it in another vial. He thought he saw a twitch of the subject's fingers.
A knock at the door interrupted him. Heidi opened the door, screaming when she saw the body ripped apart lying on the table. "Aro wishes to see you," she said composing herself from such a fright. Aro wanted him to find out what made the boy tick and to find a way to create more. Obviously his new master was not patient. Removing the staples and devices from the body, he said that he was coming and followed the woman out. The heart monitor watch flashed one heartbeat.