Pandora
Chapter IX:
Let's just survive
Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020
I've decided to put original version of Pandora (chapter 1-18) on Dropbox (as PDF). Dropbox has two options you can choose from: with reviews replies or without.
Dropbox links are in my TUMBLR ACCOUNT: sunset-wishes-upon-hill
Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and favourited my story:
Alis-volat-propriis97, Missing A Muse, Guest#1, 2honest, calmoon- Thank you so much for all your support despite my horrible schedule :) I hope you enjoy this (short) chapter!
Mangled keys- Thank you, I don't really have a strict, consistent schedule with my updates….I wish I was organised enough to have some sort of schedule but no :( but I try to write as fast as I can.
HadeCharon93- Humour is what's keeping Jessica grounded at the moment so you'll see more of Jess' dry humour.
zypherblazeo- Thank you, I have the story roughly outlined, the difficult part is putting them into words. Anywhoo, I really hope you enjoy this chapter
A/N: My birthday present to you guys who has been supporting me from the beginning.
I would just like to say that whenever real life gets difficult, it's your reviews and support and love for my stories that keep me going and grounded. Unlike my stories, I can't really write something emotional or proverb worthy – funny right, but I guess that's why I focus that emotions into my characters and writing, just like actors who can't put their feelings and emotions into words until they found acting, stories are like that to me.
Jessica preferred to spend most of her day with Gianna by her desk, occasionally making calls to her home and doodling on a piece of paper. It unnerved her how guards, as Gianna called it, eyed her as though she was a juicy, rare steak whenever she walked past them and she would touch the pendant inside her pocket, to remind her – to remind them that she was 'inedible'. Untouchable.
The only vampire that seemed to think otherwise was Demetri and that burly, monstrous of a vampire she came to know as Felix who often accompanied the tracker. She surmised they were close friend from their jests and teasing to each other and were reminded of Mike and Eric.
"You should go out sometime." Gianna suggested, noting her brooding silence, "It's better than being in the castle all the time."
"Yeah, I guess so..get some sunlight or I'll get paler than the vampires here." It was a horrid attempt of a joke that her voice and expression failed to deliver. Sounded too serious. Too dark. Like a horrible actor trying to act out a complex, emotional-ridden scene.
"If you like to read, there's a library you might wish to explore. Just be-" Before Gianna could finish her sentence, something in the dark connected to the tunnel caught her attention.
Jessica's ears perked at the 'library', she always liked reading. It was one of the things she could do to entertain herself without needing someone. Her parents had always been busy with their jobs and as a child she found reading would make time flow faster.
"I'll do." Jessica nodded with a smile.
Then a figure emerged from the dark, the death in flesh – sudden and noiseless as he eyed her with those crimson eyes that never failed to make her shiver. She imagined that was her blood, torn from her veins and exposed. She imagined her neck underneath those pearly teeth. She imagined her body cooling like the stone floor beneath it.
"Master Caius wants to see her."
Gianna's reaction to the name was instant. Her face was drained of all the colors like the vampires that surrounded them and she seemed to tremble like the onslaught of blizzard. Jessica felt sick. Oh, she thought, it must her time. He had come to led her to the slaughter site.
"Ok." Was her curt reply. She was surprised by her own calmness and acceptance of her impending death that probably will be painful and indignant.
Gianna opened her mouth, as though on precipice of speech that was shut down by Demetri's glare, watching helplessly as Jessica followed him.
"Hey, Gianna," Jessica turned with a tight smile, "It was nice meeting you."
Her voice seemed lost until the pair was long gone, letting out a whisper, "..It was nice meeting you too."
"You're awfully quiet." Demetri commented, "Usually, you talk quite a lot."
Maybe he heard her continuous chatting with Gianna but at that moment, she didn't really care nor replied to his question.
He grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the almost trance-like march; concern settling on his countenance, "You're.." His words were lost to the heavy silence in the air and from the corner of her eyes, she espied his other arm outstretch toward her and she flinched back. He stilled, arm frozen in mid-air before resuming its course to wipe something from her cheeks.
She saw something wet glistening in his fingers, her own hand reaching to her face to realize something warm and salty were running down her face to which she quickly wiped it away with her sleeve, letting out a breathless laughter, "Hah, what's wrong with me?" It was more of self-mumbling than a question.
Demetri stood still, almost as if he was waiting for her to compose herself.
"Let's go." She said once she found the stability in her voice and began to walk ahead which he caught up within seconds.
"Are you scared of us now?" His question surprised her, the disappointment and something that resembled mortification laced in his voice.
"I'm going to die aren't I?" She finally said it, her voice unwavering and in a 'matter-of-fact' tone.
"Master Aro promised you will live." He said.
"Why else would the other master want to see me?"
The reply never came as Demetri held open the door, stepping to the side as Jessica with her hesitant footsteps entered the throne room. This time, the three thrones were all occupied and she furtively glanced up to examine the co-ruler. The man – or a vampire, was not much older looking than her, maybe late 20s but no more. His pale skin and blond hair formed some sort of halo around him and like all the vampires; he was frighteningly beautiful even with his expression contorted with disgust. It didn't make any sense but she thought it made him even more alluring. Then her attention shifted toward another figure standing closely by the thrones with a young, female vampire that had also been absent when she was dragged here and couldn't stop her eyes from widening mirroring his expression.
"This is the human that is causing all the needless trouble." His cold tone could be a knife that cut through her, pulling her away from him. She suddenly had the unbearable need to not to squirm under his heated gaze like she was some insect he had the unfortunate to step on, all the while she was also a tender, ripe meat ready to be devoured.
"And you decided my own judgement was unnecessary." Caius addressed Aro with a mixture of irritation and confusion, "Brother.."
"Brother," Aro fondly replied, "You were on reconnaissance and decision had to be made on immediate notice."
"What is the reason that you spared her?" He spat out venomously.
"She's a close acquaintance to our Isabella and the Cullens."
"You deemed a mere acquaintanceship is sufficient to spare her." Caius let out a humourless chuckle, a mockery of the weight of the situation.
"I also bear my responsibility in my part of action," Aro explained in his usual, soft animated tone, "Dear Alec took an interest in the human and I simply wished to meet her in return I gave my word that she is not to be harmed. I've read in her mind that she had no intention of telling anyone of our existence."
Caius jerked toward Alec with a frown marring his face, wordlessly demanding some sort of explanation.
Alec remained silent, his gaze never leaving hers'. It was like everything around them disintegrated and only they remained in the darkness, separated by a meager distance he could close within few strides.
That was their mistake.
Caius then shifted his attention to the blonde girl standing beside him and who was glaring at her with equal disdain. "Jane."
Jessica knew something was coming, something bad and it was. She watched as a smile unfurled in Jane's full lips and Jessica found herself sprawled on cold stone, gritting down her teeth to stop herself from screeching. The white hot pain tore through her body in a way she never felt before and couldn't describe; it was like her veins were on fire, her eyes, her heart, her organs, every cells even the ones she didn't know existed were burning black like the lung of a smoker and shredding her skin. This must be what being burned alive felt like. This indescribable, unfathomable pain – the sheer agony of it that made her think twice about dying. She never wanted a death as painful as this and maybe she was too foolish to think her death at the hands of a vampire was ever going to resemble any sort of peacefulness she sought.
She wasn't sure how long she managed to hold her screams, it felt like a measly second until the scream ripped itself free from her throat.
"Enough." Jessica barely heard Aro say to Jane perhaps. Or it might be to his brother.
The pain didn't stop and she begged it did. God, she seemed to pray. Please please please please please please please PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE-PLEASE-!
"Jane." Aro's voice hardened. A final warning.
Jane only coursed more pain into Jessica's veins, eyes flared with concentration-
An arm roughly shook her, yanking her gaze away from the tortured human on the ground to its owner and a gasp escaped her, concentration broken, she had never been disturbed while utilizing her power. Jane's eyes met the colour of her own, her reflection imprinted on it. Her own face staring back at her. Her twin brother staring back at her. Her other half. It had been him who interrupted.
"Jane." Alec addressed in a way that was void of his usual, affectionate gentle tone. It was one that of a firm, chastising tone she had only ever heard him use three times in their lifetime where he had been truly angry.
Jane's lips pursed into a thin line, her own ire flaring but this time directed at him as she wrenched her arm back, hurt and confused. Why brother? That question ran through her mind in never ending loop. With one last glare, she hastily exited the room.
Aro tutted at the unconscious form he had given his word of safety, "Demetri, please take her back to her room."
Demetri approached, gently holding her up, arms hooked under her knees and back and retreated back out of the throne room.
"Brother that was uncalled for." Aro frowned, "You could have killed her."
"Just as the law dictates!" Caius retorted, "Since when did we foster habits of making exceptions?!"
"Carlisle is my friend," Aro reminded with finality in his voice, "I would not have him upset if I could."
"That yellow eyed aberrant?" Caius bit out, "You would put him above our laws?!"
"She has no intention of betraying our secret and it was for my selfish reason I decided to have her involved," Aro iterated once more, "I have given her choices – either she become one of us or dies. She will make her decision."
Caius could feel his lips tremble, a retort on the edge of his tongue that he swallowed down. Even he would restrain himself from questioning Aro's power and decision more than afforded and the stress of Aro's words whispered the extent of that granted privilege had come to its apogee that he heeded with instinct. Caius closed his left hand into a fist, opened it and then closed it into a fist again.
"It would be interesting to see which she chooses in the end." Aro continued, rubbing his hands together with delight, "Very few of us were given that gift of choosing."
"This is why you ask of me to take Alec with me." Caius realized with anger, "So that you may play this facetious game of yours'."
"Life is a game of chess, brother." Aro turned to him with tinge of a smile. "She will bring me what I want."
Something sunk in Caius' mind with awareness, his countenance slightly unwinding, "The Cullens."
"I entreat you to welcome her while her time here, brother." Aro asked.
Alec hated seeing his sister upset. She should only smile. Nothing else. Smile suited her. Everything he did, he did it for his sister. Every thought, every action, even disregarding his true emotions and wants, were for her. Jane. His beloved sister. His world.
Her back was turned, shoulders fraught with tension and her head lowered. Oh, how he detested her wretched state.
"Sister." He mustered up the courage, approaching her with the mean to console. Something sharp cut through him when she rejected his touch, his hands now limply hanging by his side.
"Is that the distraction?" Jane was aware about the human. Demetri had explained that much to her before she was cast away to Mexico along with Master Caius and Alec. It had bothered her ever since. Seeing the girl had coloured her worry into something tangible, an absolute proof. Her fear. Her jealousy. Her insecurity.
"I am sorry, Jane."
She paused. She already knew. Jane had always known the sacrifices he made for the sake of her happiness and she was always sorry – that she might be holding him back somehow. Ruining his chance of finding happiness, one he could call his own.
"Is she important to you?"
"No." He replied without hesitation and that was true. No one could compare to his sister. Everything else was second, "Nothing ever will."
Jane knew it too. Yet she couldn't help but fear he might. If she could cry, thousands of tears would have been wept. But she couldn't and so her face contorted into some ill-matching expression of sadness.
"You're worried about her." She stated.
"Humans are fragile." Alec reminded, "You could have killed her."
"So?" Jane turned over her shoulder ever so slightly, "What one more human dead? She is nothing."
"She's acquainted with the Cullens'. Master Aro would be upset if Carlisle was."
"And since when did we start to comprise their feelings into judgement? Is it not enough that we spared that human girl?"
"She will choose, sister." He stepped closer, stopping to scan for any sign of rejection and when there wasn't, wrapped his arms around her shoulder, "Do not concern yourself with Jessica."
Jane's brows furrowed, did he know? Did he do it on purpose? That he had used that human's name.
Liar. She thought.
Jessica woke with tears, the pillow damp and cold. She shivered; the cool room was always a bit cold for her liking and she wished someone turned on the heating. There was an overwhelming need for warmth – a human touch. Someone with a heart that was beating like hers', blood pumping in their veins and colour in their cheeks. The pain had disappeared yet her body was drugged with hazy heaviness she couldn't describe. It was like you were expecting to be sore and hurt but wasn't. Instead she was mentally exhausted and drained. Her throat was dry and raw from the strains of her scream.
She didn't know how long she was lying still, staring at the rain running down the window. Jessica liked watching the world through the rain stained glass, there was some kind of beauty in the blurred colors and lights and shapes that was almost dreamy and comforting. Her ears focused on the pitter-patter of the droplets hitting against it, a calming, soothing lullaby that never failed to allure her into deep slumber.
"Are you alright?" The familiar lilt of faint Italian mixed with other accents she couldn't quite place came from behind her and slowly, she turned to the side to see him standing near her bed.
He seemed apprehensive, troubled by the sight of her and the two gazed into each other for a long time before she spoke.
"Yeah. I'm alive." That's all that mattered.
Jessica heaved herself up from the bed, back against the pillow, "I'm fine." Then resumed to watching the rain fall.
She heard him advance, rounding to her side of the bed and coming closer until she could smell his intoxicating scent that all vampires seemed to ooze, so close that she could feel his body's emitting coldness.
"Is she Alec's sister?"
"Yes. Jane."
"The pain I felt..was it her doing?"
"Her gift."
What a crude gift. Jessica thought, For a girl with an angel-like face, her power is like the devil.
He seemed like he had something to say but held back when she rose up from the bed, holding her up by the arm when she staggered to gather her balance. Jessica could feel the tightness around her arm. Her muscles and bones. It was uncomfortable. If such small pinch hurt her bone this much, a slightly more pressure would snap it like sticks.
"Where are you going?"
"Outside." She answered, avoiding his stare as she waited for him to let go.
Demetri's hand slid down her arm and dropped to his side, unmoving as he watched her exit the room.
It was twilight by the time she stepped outside of the castle, the breeze gently caressing her face like mother's touch and as she watched the clouds floating by; warm, salty tears streaked down her face to the curve of her neck and took a deep breath of the air combined with fresh resinous scent of the earth before letting out a heavy sigh, her body slumping with the exhalation. She wasn't' sure why but the smell had an instinctive calming effect to her, like encased in a deep ocean, sinking and sinking into the darkness–like Alec's power though just different in a way she relished in the senses and not deprived of it. She found peace in all sensations her senses brought just as she did in nothingness.
When Jessica snapped out of her auto-mode, she found herself standing by the centre fountain in the town square, disturbingly unknowing of her journey from the castle to the town. She sighed, slumping against the cold stone all the while watching the people bustling by, so blissfully oblivious against the dark secret that lurked beneath them. Or among them.
A child with a cone of gelato, holding hands with her mother.
A couple happily chatting away, the boyfriend's arm around her shoulder.
A woman going home from work.
A man eating alone in the café.
Group of girls huddled together, giggling as they shared their phones with each other.
That was normal. That was what she had. What she took for granted. And she lost them all because of her stupid curiosity.
Her eyes watered, threatened to spill and she quickly wrested her head to the ground, watching it darken the graphite with inky blots, like the rain droplets from the sky.
Jessica turned, hurrying away from the people; she could feel their prying stares, their attention on the girl who just can't avoid being noticed. A blare of horn snapped her out of her daze, tumbling to the ground to avoid colliding with the oncoming car. Jessica remained rooted on the dirty ground, ignoring the driver's panicked, apologetic concerns or other passer-by, nonchalantly heaving herself up and walking away much to their confusion. She stopped at the same backstreet Alec found her, perching on one of the stair. It was almost always empty and no light reached there so they couldn't see her cry. It was safe here, she was hidden.
Knees tucked into her chest, face buried, she didn't notice someone had been there, hidden within the darkness like her, silently watching ever since she left the castle. A polished, black dress shoe came into her narrow, obstructed view then the man seemed to kneel, his dark trouser was all she could see. Slowly, she lifted up her head; eyes leveled with his, crimson seemed to glow in the dark. It belonged there. In the darkness.
His finger gently wiped away the tears, one by one. His cold touch was ironically strange against the warmth of his gesture, she couldn't help be aware.
"You followed me." Her voice quivered, lips trembling.
"I wanted to see what you'd do." Demetri replied.
Her face contorted into mixture of emotions as she registered his word; hurt, anger, disconcert. It was as if she was some sort of experimental rat he'd put in a cage with various stimuli, poking and jabbing to get an amusing enough of a reaction.
"I'm not some toy you damn vampires push around!" Jessica gritted out, gravelled by his perverse inquisitiveness as she swept his arm away, "I'm not a freak show on display, I'm not-I'm not…" Her chest rose and fell as her pulse quickened and breath became shallow and hyperventilated.
"..I'm…," Her breath slowed, coming to a steady tempo, "I'm..just me. Nothing interesting. Nothing to be amused about." I'm just trying to survive.
"You're Jessica Stanley." He affirmed after a while, "A human that isn't afraid of vampires-no, that's not entirely correct…a human that simply wants to survive, regardless what it may be, is it?"
His finger cupped her chin lightly, craning it up to him; her eyes still red and glistening with tears as he continued, "Even now, you're not afraid. Rather, you're angry. Angered at the injustice you suffered for which you did not deserve. Ah, is that determination I see as well?"
I can't run away. She won't. She couldn't.
Not when Dr. Cullen had essentially placed his neck on the guillotine for her.
Not while this vampire still lived.
"Wise choice." He said as if he saw through her treacherous mind. "If you wish to live, it'd be wise to keep yourself interesting. When you live as long as we do, things get bored awfully quickly."
Jessica's eyes hardened with defiance, a look he liked seeing – it always signified a challenge, something tenacious that he would have fun peeling. "Like I said," She bit out, sweeping away his hand, "I'm not a toy and I won't act like one."
"Admirable foolish gallant," He applauded, "With a death wish."
She stood up. Demetri followed with grace. Jessica headed back to the town with determined steps, whole body tense and stiff and her chin held high, refusing to throe in denial any longer.
Demetri glanced over his shoulder, a figure that had been following them ever since she had left the castle and a silent witness to their small maundering. Alec's expression did not betray any thoughts or emotions that could be burning within him but Demetri was acquainted with the twins' mien to know displeasure waving off him, his thinner lips slightly pursed and the twitching and tightening of the corner of his eyes.
It was enough to arouse a small response on Demetri, a subtle flutter of his lips that could not be considered a smirk but something similar.
Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020