Thank you for all the reviews from the last chapter! I really appreciate it!
This is chapter 2, and it it written in third person. I am often going to be switching between Renesmee's POV and third person in chapters, but it will never happen within the smae chapter. This one is all about the Altaira and what they are up to. It also introduces a character who will be very important to the story so look out for her! She will become a very well-developed character later on and is also my favorite in this story so I hope you come to like her just as much as I do :)
Also, the mention of flowers and what they represent serves as a symbol to Molly and her true character. For example, a lily is said to represent innocence while a poppy is said to represent death and evil along with some of the other flowers mentioned.
Hope you enjoy! Thanks again!
~2~
The Tender Poppy or the Deadly Lily?
A thunderous roar from a floor below brought the small girl out of her state of intense gazing. She brought her head up to look towards the door, ready for someone to come barging through any minute. When no one came, she simply turned back around to stare at the flower in front of her.
The white Lily was hanging from the vase, drooping down onto the ancient desk it sat on. The girl would stare at the little flower for hours, wishing desperately to get away from the terror that went on below her. She would watch over the flower every day, wishing there was something she could do to keep the fragile little blossom from dying. The cold, bitter Iceland winters, did nothing but destroy the flower and penetrate its' barrier of beauty.
The girl had become so accustomed to watching over the flower that the rest of the court that lived inside the ancient castle had designated her to caring for all the flowers in the palace. She did so willingly and happily, liking nothing more than to step farther away from the vile acts that went on all over the deadly place. She tended to the poppies, Scottish thistles, and deadly nightshades that were spread out around the castle, but she never got the same pleasure as watching the one small lily that she kept up inside her room. The lily was like her; innocent, but surrounded by beings more cruel and evil than herself, causing her to slip away more and more each day.
Finally, the sound she had been waiting for was drawing closer. The stamping of feet up her tower stairs, banging the door open into her private chambers.
"Eric needs your assistance, Molly," rasped a cold harsh voice that belonged to nonother than Cerebrus. The man was built like a brute. Tall, with a thick-muscled body, and buzz-cut dark brown hair that only went too well with the scorching red eyes. The man resembled nothing less than vampire monster that he was.
The small girl, never taking her eyes off the tiny plant, simply just gave a curt nod. Once the man retreated, she finally tore her eyes away from the flower and directed them on the door Cerebrus had just gone through.
More screams echoed from downstairs and floated into the girl's chambers. The blank expression frozen on her face finally turned into one of apprehension and horror. The girl was about to be forced to do something she had no desire to do. She no longer had it in her heart to perform the cruel act she was capable of.
After a few seconds more, the screams and groans didn't cease and she knew she had no choice anymore. They would come back for her and she would be the one screaming this time. The stone body moved silently, taking a step forward, before creeping out the door and descending down the tower staircase.
She slid her small hand over the railing as she went down. The candles lighting her way brought tints of gold to her red eyes, the rubies on the golden necklace, containing a symbol with the letter 'A', lying on her smooth, pale chest, sparkling.
As she walked, her straight dark auburn hair hung an inch above her shoulders, never moving with each step she took, even the straight bangs that came to just above her thin eyebrows. The hair framed her gentle face. Even with the bright red lips and eyes and the dark circles that framed her eyes, she didn't look evil or wicked. On the contrary, she looked like a gentle creature. Even her stone ice skin looked soft and warm under the burning candlelight.
The sound of glass and stone breaking sounded through the walls as she came to the end of the staircase, her brow furrowing more. She seemed to take a slow, shaky breath, as if trying to rid the tears that would never come to her venomous eyes.
The girl, knowing she had no choice, took a step forward down the hall and to the edge of the large, long rectangular room. This chamber was meant as a greeting room. The room was one that the king, Eric, and queen, Audrey, would use to greet their guests. It only contained three gigantic thrones, all decorated in midnight blue, plum, and emerald colored silk, rubies, and amethysts; silver lining trimming all three extravagant chairs. The colors were those of the Altaira; powerful, dark, and full of evil promise.
Screams and crashing sounds continued as the girl inched her way along the wall, walking as slow as she could which was a very difficult thing to do, being a vampire. When she heard the King's scream instead of the intruder's, she knew it was time to reveal herself.
Stepping to look into the room, she saw five of the Altaira warriors along with the king, queen, and the intruder she knew to be one of the Volturi guardsmen. The Altaira warriors were all clad in the usual black and emerald cloaks. The king and queen, however, wore extravagant outfits of the same midnight blue and plum that surrounded their thrones at the far end of the room.
The girl cringed against the wall as she watched horrified when Cerebrus pulled another arm off the Volturi guard who was now pinned down under the weight of three other Altaira warriors.
"Answers Santiago," shouted the king scornfully as the guard shrieked in agony, "I need answers!"
"I will never give them to you!" Santiago rasped underneath the now four warriors. With this statement, the guard was flown against the wall, crumbling to the floor. He struggled to get up, still writhing from the torment. Another warrior, Alistair, hurried over to him, straddling on top of his broken body and bending back his only leg left at the knee in an unnatural way, with the help of Cerebrus.
The man cried another yelp of pain, and Eric only cocked his brow, a smug look crossing his face. "I would rethink your answer," he sneered, "If you want to save your life, you had better start talking and the sooner the better. We don't want to be shipping you back to Aro in a million little pieces."
Santiago cried through his screams of pain, "I will not betray the Volturi! You will never defeat Aro!"
"Is that so?" Eric said through gritted teeth, anger pulsing through him. He ran over to the helpless body that was still pinned against the floor. "And yet, look who is outnumbered here!"
"Aro will find out," the man gasped, "He'll know what happened to me!"
Eric seemed to ponder this new statement for a moment before nodding and adding with a jeer, "He might, but I doubt he'll really care. What use are you to him? You possess no special gift. Isn't that what Aro treasures most? What attracts him?" He paused, giving an extra sneer in his smile before continuing. "Well, if you cooperate and just tell us what Aro has planned, then maybe we can consider allowing you to be one of us. An Altaira warrior. Here, we don't need special gifts to be considered important. So, Santiago, what do you say? Will you join us and tell me what Aro's secret weapon is? What this new gift he is hiding is?"
The guard's face was completely blank for a few seconds, before it quickly turned to an expression of upmost loathing and rage. "You can go to hell!" the man shot back at Eric, who looked almost taken aback, but yet, undisturbed as ever.
"If that is what you wish," Eric replied, his face still in the sly smile. With a wave of his hand, all five warriors in the room piled onto the screeching vampire, pinning him on his knee, holding his hands behind his back, and cupping his jaw. The King then bent down to the man's face, his smile growing even bigger, malice searing through his burning eyes. "Here, we have our own gifts. Ones that Aro would only dream of possessing. Ones that he will never even know about. It's too bad that you will not survive in order to warn him. Now, he'll never know what's hit him until it's over."
For once, the Volturi guard seemed to look terrified. It finally started to dawn on him that he would not survive. The king seemed to give him a chance to consider backing out, but when he didn't, he simply said indifferently, shrugging his shoulders with a sigh, "Molly," the word used to summon the tiny vampire to his side.
The statue of the girl, still standing in shock at the horrific image in front of her, stepped off the wall and to the King's side. She caught the look of Audrey, the seductively beautiful queen and her cousin, smiling maliciously as she entered. The warriors all looking as if they were about to break into a fit of laughter and the king looking as if he was very bored and felt no shame at killing another being.
Lastly, the girl caught the eye of the Volturi guardsmen, red eyes staring at her pleadingly, and at the same time, wondering what she could do to him. Oh he had no idea, and by the time he figured it out, he would be perished, his body only being an immovable stone.
Molly stood over the man, wishing she didn't have to perform what she had to do. It had been a few months since she had last used her gift, and it would take another month to get through all the guilt and suffering that was soon to follow. She wanted nothing more than to back out of the room and run away, but the guard knew too much. He knew Molly was no ordinary vampire. There was something special in her, something that made her more dangerous than any other; a quality that caused Eric to hide her from everyone, to be used as a weapon of sort.
Now, gazing into the horrified man's eyes, she simply reached out her hand as if too caress his cheek. Feeling the regret and pain build inside her because of what she was about to perform, she whispered, "I'm sorry," her voice as soft as a bell and as timid as a child. Understanding seemed to dawn on the man's face, and as soon as this realization hit, the tiny, little hand had landed on his cheek, zapping his whole stone body, causing it to writhe in agony for one final second, before collapsing onto the ground to never move again.
One touch was all it took. One touch and the vampire was gone forever, a scream of anguish ringing through the castle in his wake, a hand slipping off his cheek and the owner of that hand running away in terror and the destiny that was meant to destroy her.
Reviews are always welcome :) xo
