Pandora

Chapter X:

A Girl in the cloud

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:

HadeCharon93- Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! I really appreciate you commenting on my stories every time :) Well you'll see more of Demetri in this chapter and the next. I hope you like this as well!

Missing A Muse- Thank you for reviewing! Please enjoy this as well!

Gianna shot to her side the moment Jessica hobbled in, her face darkly stricken and taut; she looked like an animal walking into an abattoir, realizing its fate as it was led inside by the recoiling chain. The vampire's secretary felt nothing but sympathy for the girl, it was one thing to willingly delve into their world but to be dragged into it was being handed a death sentence for a mere crime of knowing. How unfair, how unjust it must be for her.

Yet despite all this, Jessica managed a small smile in Gianna's way and a firm squeeze of her arm as though to say: 'I'm okay, it's alright'.

"Hey, I went out just as you said and..it was great." Jessica revealed with voice low and almost timid, devoid of her usual bubbly cheeriness.

"You should sit down." Gianna firmly said, guiding her toward the spare seat that was Jessica's.

"I just stood by the fountain, watching people go by." Jessica mumbled, "Do you know there's a 50% sale on that boutique shop you mentioned?"

Gianna nodded with a smile of her own, silently commending her effort to keep herself intact.

"We should go shopping sometimes." Jessica added, "Don't you get paid a lot? You know, with all these secrets keeping and all that."

"I do." She said, "Sure, let's go. I'll get you a new phone too."

"Okay but bill it to them."

"What's the business card for?" And Gianna flashed Jessica her mischievous smile.

I'm scared to wander. Jessica muffled inwardly to herself as she glanced out toward the dark, gray sky in the extended half round window pane situated up high on the curving of the roof in a way that resembled an inside of a church.

She felt as though she were chained by an invisible rope tying her to this cold, isolated, alien castle, never letting her wander too far. Even though the castle was inhabited by vampires, it was no more than being alone inside this artfully designed keep. They were more like a shade. A spirit that would only come out at night and moved from one walls to another in eerie silence appearing then disappearing from the corner of her eyes that left the living occupant frightened whether it was all in her head or something, however brief it may be, they had been there. Humans left an evidence of warmth; vampires left trails of coldness. The air in the castle was always cold except in the odd areas where fires and candles were lit, creating this bizarre immiscible of warmth and cold that never mixed like water and oil so she'd get one part in the room that was noticeably warmer than the rest. When vampires lingered, that part of the area temperature noticeably dropped in the same way putting a block of ice in the middle of the room and the room temperature becomes cooler and that's how she knew they had been there sometimes or another.

Naturally, she sought the warmest part of the castle – the library. Maybe it's because it's where the most sun is shone throughout the day; this side was the most open and exposed skeleton of the castle with the most windows. Maybe it's the books acting as insulator but Jessica soon found herself favoring this out of all rooms she was allowed in. More than her own room.

She liked the smell of the old books, something about its musky, papery scent that soothed her like a mother's scent would for a baby. Often, she'd huddle herself on the corner floor, stacks of various studies of books fort around her. Many were written in Latin and other ancient language she was sure was considered dead but thankfully, large collections of it were English – in one form or another. Jessica didn't bother finish all these books, simply skimming through them until her interest in them wore off.

"Who gave you the permission to be here?" It was a man's voice. Low, biting and scathing tone that made shivers crawl down her spine from the first moment she had heard them. His eyes were the most frightening of his features, she thought.

The book slipped out of her hand, clacking onto the marble floor and she shot up, her head jerked toward the source, meeting his narrowed gaze and suddenly she froze liked a cornered rat as the shadows of its predator grew until it usurped her whole existence. As she registered the swarming emotions blinking pass his eyes, she wondered what she had done – or what her kind had done – to deserve such hatred and disgust. Weren't they a human once? Weren't he?

He didn't like her keeping schtum at his order, appearing in front of her in speed humans eyes couldn't follow before something icy and hard tied itself around her neck, cutting off her oxygen supply and all she could do was flail weakly in its grasp.

It's a damn library, she chewed on her tongue, all too focused on self-preservation than a witty, sarcastic comeback – particularly with this vampire.

"I…I..thought I could.." She managed to stutter out, voice hoarse from the increasing pressure and limited air in her lung. Someone help me!

Then he let her go, falling in a heap on the ground as she gasped for breath. She swore his grip tightened with dab of final finish before he changed his mind and let her go. There was a flutter of his suit and her arm shot out grab his leg, digging her nails into the solidness. Jessica blinked, realizing what she had done and quickly removed her hand away.

"I-I'm sorry!" Jessica muttered, body trembling as she avoided his deadly glares he sent down her way.

Her body had acted on its own accord in fit of strong, compelling emotions she couldn't identify at that time. Defiance, anger, curiosity. She wanted to ask him why he hated her. Hated humans. But also to show him she wasn't going to quiver in fear like everyone do in his presence.

Every second it ticked by, she thanked God that she was alive. Or she might already be dead.

"Get out of my sight." He growled in final tone.

Be calm, Jess, She said to herself through the morass, taking a moment to gather her thought and composure, she nodded and knelt down to collect her books, garnering as much as she could with both her arms and moved to the furthest part of the room, ducking her head and staying low while peeking through the stacked books from the ground.

Caius clenched his eyes shut, his fingers twitching with the urge to simply crush the human's throat and drain her and let the body deliquesce like the others in the sewage. The only thing that was holding him back was Aro's cordially disguised warning that the girl was not to be harmed.

Bead of sweat formed and trickled down Jessica's temple as her fingers trembled with great effort holding on the top corner of the paper, gently trying to turn the page without making an ounce of noise. Not even the slightest change in the air should be detected. She could feel tears forming. Why? She wanted to ask whoever was up there.

It was then a thought manifested in her mind with a vengeance, why should she have to be conscious of him? Why does she must be oppressed? I've done nothing wrong.

Her fingers gripped the page confidently and flicked it over, immersing herself into the book she was reading and soon, the blond vampire was forgotten and she found herself, safe and warm, in the imaginative world of words.

She learned the older looking vampire was Marcus. And he seemed so much kinder and blasé to the whole situation of co-habiting with the human even if he did seemed so jaded to everything. She felt nothing from him and everything from the blond vampire whose name often slipped out of her memory and wondered what sort of physiological difference lied between the two for it to have happened.

"Why does he hate me?" Jessica asked one day, looking up from her book and across the table.

"Caius does not like humans." His voice just as beautiful and clear yet there was a heaviness to it that was absent to other vampires that made him seemed more older than he actually looked, or was. She couldn't help but imagine Marcus as one of elders you see in the care homes, exhausted and tired of life that they just stare at the ticking clock all day in their sofa, hoping for their exit. Only for Marcus, there isn't one.

"But wasn't he one before?"

"We all were, child."

"Do you think he'll kill me?"

"Aro made it clear that you are not to be harmed."

"And is that guaranteed?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay, thank you." Did she feel relieved? No.

"You're welcome, child."

"Do you think philosophy is useless?" Jessica suddenly asked in attempt to extend their small exchange, "People say taking a major in philosophy is waste of time and there isn't many career paths to it. But I like it."

"Is your enthusiasm for it not enough?" Marcus asked.

"You need money to live."

"Then which one can you live without?" Oh, he made her think. It wasn't his intention to end their talk briefly but it had been at amicable and joyful ending – at least to her it was and she hoped it was reciprocated.

Jessica finally saw Alec a week later and apprehensively, she searched his face for any emotions that may tip off what he was thinking. His face remained passive and aloof, posture still and in distant from where she was standing. Even though there was always that unbridgeable gap between them, he never felt so elusive as she felt him regard her with those cold, red eyes. Something changed.

"Long time no see, Alec." Jessica decided to break silence.

"Do you regret it?" He asked after a beat.

"Regret what?"

"..Meeting me." He elaborated, "Allowing you to live when you begged to die. Dragging you into our world. All of this."

Jessica froze at his words, her eyes which had widened, simply blinking at him in baffle. For a moment, she was lost for word, her mind frantically racing to find an appropriate, ideal answer. What would he like to hear? How should she word it as not to upset him? What would make him happy-?

Jessica cut off that line of thinking, such thinking was ingrained within her ever since she was a child in a strange, rainy, unfamiliar town; all too mindful and pressed to make friends as fast as possible as to avoid the obvious tell-tale of an outsider than she and her family already was. It had taken a lot of planning, effort and ass kissing to become part of Lauren's clique. Sometimes, she doesn't recognize the girl she became. A popular Forks High student and a member of Lauren's gang, a soon-to-be valedictorian, a jock's girlfriend to students, Mike's girlfriend to friends, likely prom queen candidate, a philosophy major.

She must have been thinking a long time because she saw him falter and slowly step back with his head lowered, taking in her silence as confirmation.

"Not really.." She started with a small smile, "I'm actually glad I've met you."

Alec raised his head, almost expectantly and it was the perfect picture of innocence like a child waiting for a scolding but instead was rewarded with praise. It lit his face up like nothing else, she noticed with slight relief; although it was not visibly animated Jessica was well versed with him to read subtle changes in his expression to know that persistent despondence seemed to disperse slightly.

"This is a beautiful garden, you know." Jessica said, scouting out the beautiful topiary forming an arch with colourful flowers and branches articulately woven together as though the different species sprouted all on one seed.

"It's my sister's." Alec revealed, glancing up at the source of her wonder. He wasn't sure how long it took for her sister to force the trees to grow in unnatural, artificially crafted way as concept of time was something meaningless. Botany or floral arrangements weren't something he was particularly interested in learning.

"Your sister is.." She felt him tense up, "..Isn't what I exactly have in mind."

"And what did you think of my sister then?" There was a hint of defensive tone in his voice, all prepared to react and guard his sister's name as older brothers do.

"I thought she'd be like you." Jessica said, "Or the complete opposite. But I was betting on the former. She doesn't like me."

"She does not like anyone." Or anything much. Except masters and me and her garden. Alec inwardly added.

"I think I'm on the highest part of the list of the things she hates."

"My sister.." He seemed to struggle to find a voice, "My sister..is not like what you think despite..what you have seen and experience."

"Then what is she like?" She asked.

"She is rash and often impulsive but kind." He said with a smile, "She may not be perfect, but to me she is the best sister I could ever wish for."

"You love her."

"How can I not?"

"Because if you truly were a monster like you said you are, you wouldn't be capable of such feeling."

She saw his expression fall, withdrawing back to their conserved cold, hard gaze that only made him harder to approach and it was such a stark difference against Demetri's ambiverted nature.

"You should not say those words lightly." He whispered as a warning to her, slowly retreating back all the while their eyes were still connected, leaving Jessica nibbling on her lips with uneasiness.

Jessica wasn't sure what's worse. Being stuck in a confide room with Jane or with these two, she thought as she regarded the two ancient leaders sat by the audaciously expensive looking white marble table glided with gold in the center of the library. The two books she was holding had long clattered onto the floor with shock at seeing them when she arrived.

"Jessica," Aro was the first to speak with a pleasant tone like one would greet a friend.

"..Hi." She managed to return, eyeing Caius who seemed more than happy to ignore her existence in the room which suited her fine. Better in fact. She didn't want to be more of an eyesore than she already was in his eyes.

"You seemed to be adapting well to us," Aro commented with a playful smile that reminded of the look on the cat's expression as it played with a poor mice in trapped in its paws, "And I appreciate that you accepted my offer of inviting to stay with us."

Jessica blinked, unable to stop the thought 'BULLSHIT!' flashing through her mind in a split second. Then blinked again. Then again.

"Well, thank you for allowing me to stay here," Jessica expressed her gratitude in awfully fake bright tone that it was only done out of custom in this civil, kind conversation before adding with sarcasm, "But I didn't really have any choice in this say unless I wanted to end up being liquefied with acid which isn't really how I dreamed of leaving this world – I prefer a more peaceful death, preferably dying in my sleep at 87, with natural burial, with my body wholly intact in a biodegradable casket buried in a proper six feet down in moist, neutral ph. soil, preferably by the church garden with a headstone with my name and some lovely epitaph describing how I lived a fulfilled, happy life and surrounded by my family and friends. And now, thanks to your wonderful offer, I'm struggling to sleep at night because you know locking your oak doors and putting chairs and table against it isn't strong enough to stop a vampire from wanting to decide that I'd make a nice night snack all the while trying my best to avoid Jane and your human hating brother who loves to visit the library like me. Other than that, I'm having an amazing holiday here. Thanks for asking." She ended with a forced smile and a nod of finish.

Aro's smile broaden, his vibrato chuckle echoing throughout this palatial place and it never failed to make shiver slither down her spine although she tried not to show it.

"I can assure your safety whilst you're under my care." He promised and she almost believed him, who would think otherwise with that melodic, velvety smooth voice of his but Jessica knew more than anything to always seek the true meaning behind articulately blurred promises. She almost wished she had his power to read his mind. He was an enigma, an unnecessarily complex riddle that made her want to pull out her hair. An endless peeling of skins that refused to expose itself.

Jessica glanced back to Caius whose attention stilled on the tome in front of him and despite his seemingly ignorance of commerce unwinding in front of him, she knew he was listening. He hasn't turned a page ever since she had walked in and Aro initiated the exchange. Jessica wanted to ask deeper about the reason of her stay at the castle but it was a private matter that she needed to be alone with Aro. For a very good reason, she didn't want her usual habit of making a silly slip of the tongue emerge in front of this blond vampire.

Aro must have noticed her hesitance, tilting his head as he regarded her then to Caius before settling back unto her with those milky, crimson eyes that seemed to swirl on its own, "Do we frighten you?"

"..That's a stupid question." Jessica voiced out unconsciously. As much as it should have been her private thought, it was a daft question, Jessica thought, and he knew it. Although why he was testing out the depth of her fear of them was completely lost to her.

"Just some of you."

"Some?"

"I'm afraid of you," A pause, "And..him."

She wasn't sure how she should address him although 'your brother' seemed to be a safe phrase that wouldn't offend him.

There was a flicker of genuine surprise as though her fearing him wasn't something he intended. Or maybe it was something else. She wasn't sure what to make of him.

"You're being very honest." Aro noted. The books he had been reading long abandoned in favour of their exchange.

"There's no point in trying to lie to someone who can read my mind by touch." She retaliated with a tinge of playfulness, her body slightly relaxing.

"Many still try."

"Sounds like they've got a death wish." She commented candidly.

Aro hummed and Jessica knew those who had tried to lie to him were long dead.

"You do not have to be afraid." Aro reassured her, "No harm will come your way."

Jessica nodded, "Okay, I was getting tired moving those heavy table and chairs back and forth every night and morning."

Still, that promise was only valid as long as she didn't step out of line.

Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020