Ch. 4. New Life, New Powers, New Friends

***ONE YEAR LATER***

I sigh, as I watch the poor humans being led into the room. Feeding time. Great. I roll my eyes at the eager look on Alec's face. This massive slaughter thing really bothers me. Yeah, sure, the blood smells amazing, but I can't bear the thought of killing a human being, no matter how thirsty I am. I'd rather eat human food. Maybe it's because of the situation I was in when I was changed; or maybe it was seeing the fear on Sarah's face before I was turned myself. That is the only human memory that is extremely clear in my mind. It doesn't help that I see it constantly over and over again as I watch the others of the Volturi guard feed on these humans. And they get so excited about it. Ugh. Disgusting. I wave to Alec as I walk out of the room, and into my own personal chambers. I lean against the wall, a habit I've developed, as I think back on everything that's happened to me in the past year.

After that first day as a vampire, Aro, the god that was so kind, told me everything about vampires. He told me how we live forever, how there are only a few select ways to kill us, how we attract humans, how special we are. According to Aro, there are more than a few very special vampires; as if being ridiculously strong, fast, attractive, and venomous weren't enough. A few of us have other special powers. In the guard itself there are eight of us, not including Aro and Marcus. Aro can read your history in your mind but needs to touch the person first. Marcus, the one that always looks bored, can see relationships, but I've yet to see this in person yet. Those two and Caius, the mean looking one, are the Volturi. They are virtually the law overseers of the vampires, making sure no one completely exposes us for what we are. Murderers. Then in the guard, you have Alec, who makes his 'victims' feel absolutely nothing, and see absolutely nothing; there is also Chelsea who has the ability to tighten or loosen the ties that bind vampires to one another—for example, bonds of friendship and loyalty; Demetri who is supposedly the best tracker of all the vampires, supposedly no one can out hide him; Renata who is Aro's personal shield, she's supposed to help out Caius and Marcus as well, but her main priority is Aro; Then there are Afton, Corin, and Heidi, all three of whom I don't know what their powers are exactly, I've never seen them, I only know they have them; then last, and definitely my least favorite, Jane. Jane has the ability to inflict pain with her thoughts. Although, I suppose I have some thanks I should give to her.

After all, if it weren't for Jane, I wouldn't know about my power. I have the ability to steal a person's special ability and use it. Generally, it gets multiplied ten-fold, but there are some, like Alec's power that can't really be increased. When I "borrow," as I like to think of it, others powers like Alec's they generally backfire. If I can't increase it, I don't use it, generally. I will use Aro's power. I find myself smiling as I think back to when I found my power, about a month after I was "created." It was a day that changed my life in more than one way.

***

I was sitting, minding my own business, when Jane used her power on me. I fell to the ground, and as I writhed, and refused to scream, I thought to myself how I wish she could feel her own power, get a taste of her own medicine. That's when I hear a scream, and the pain stops. I stand up quickly, only to find Jane on the ground, writhing and screaming. A grin spreads across my face, and I continue thinking about her power, and I concentrate it on her.

I get pushed back, only to find Alec on top of me, breaking my concentration. I look at him with confusion. "What, she uses it on me all the time. You never stop her." I snap at him, pushing him off me easily.

"Yes, but you never scream like that." Alec said, getting to his own feet.

Jane is panting on the ground, crumpled looking.

As I'm thinking about using it on her again, I feel Aro's presence close to me. I spin, and look at him.

He looks overly joyous. "Elanor, what did you do?"

"Apparently I used my powers against her." I feel my shoulders shrug.

Aro looks amazed. "Try it on Alec."

"What?!" Alec turns to Aro.

"Sorry Alec." I say before concentrating on Alec feeling the same thing as Jane.
Because I rather like him, I try not to let it be too strong.

Alec collapses to the floor, screaming, and writhes in pain. I quickly stop and help him up. "Sorry." I whisper again.

"It's okay…" Alec said as he rose to his feet.

Aro looked at him eagerly. "Well, how was it?"

"Stronger then Jane's has ever been." Alec looked over at me in wonder.

Aro looked entirely amused. "Really?" he smiled. "See if you can pick up on anyone else's powers, without them using it on you."

I close my eyes, and let my mind wander around the room. I feel this urge, almost like a bunch of strings pulling me toward something. I feel two really close to me. I go toward the stronger, the older, power. I embrace it, and it's almost like a miniature fire. I open my eyes. "Give me your hand." I tell Alec.

He looks at me confused.

"Please. It shouldn't hurt." I beg him.

He holds his hand, tentatively, out. By now we have a crowd of people around us, including Jane who I can feel glaring daggers at me. I touch his hand and can see his memories.

"No way" I say quietly, my eyes staring into his. I smile lightly and pull my hand away from his. I look at Aro. "I can use your power. Though, it kinda gives me a headache…"

Aro looked extremely amused. "That is very impressive. Try Alec's power now, Elanor my dear."

I nod and close my eyes. I ignore all the other pulling sensations and find the one closest to me. I embrace it, the little fire again, and open my eyes.

Aro whispers in my ear "Try to concentrate it only on one person."

I nod and look at Felix. "Get ready Felix." I wink. He's another one I can stand.

Felix looks amused and nods. "Bring your best."

I try using Alec's power, try concentrating on Felix's body, on sending it to Felix, but then I feel nothing. I gasp. "Aro, what's happened?"

I hear Jane laugh, and I feel hatred flood my emotions again. I can't see, but because of the pull from her power, I know exactly where she is. I send her screaming to the floor again.

"Elanor, when you stop using Jane's power against her, I'll release you from the blindness." I hear Alec's voice in my ear.

I sigh and release Jane. Just about a second after, I can see again, and I can feel. I look immediately at Aro. "What happened?"

"Apparently you can't take ANY power. But can you recognize what they are?" Aro looked at me curiously.

I closed my eyes. "Kinda. The one's I'm most familiar with, yes. Yours, Marcus, Alec, Jane, even Renata…but I can only feel a slight pull from Afton and Corin…like
I know they have a power, but I can't identify what it is…" I open my eyes and look at him. "Is that good?"

Aro looks at me like a new toy. "Yes, Elanor, that is fantastic."

I feel myself smile. Then I, even with my eyes open, I begin to feel another pull, but I can't recognize exactly what it is. But, I get an image in my mind. "Heidi is coming…" I say quietly.

***

I watch, now back in my present day, as Heidi walks back out. "They're all done Elanor." She smiles at me.

I smile back at her. "Thanks." I walk back in and stand next to Felix. He and I have grown rather close, lately. He's actually fun to be around, despite his huge size. He's funny, and genuinely worried about others. Felix, Alec, and Heidi are the only three I generally stick around with anymore.

Speaking of Heidi, I feel her familiar pull growing closer. I wrinkle my eyebrows, thinking she shouldn't be coming back here yet.

Aro caught my look. "Elanor? What is it?"

"Heidi is coming back…" I say quietly. Then I feel it. A second pull, a strong one, though I cannot recognize who the power belongs to. "And she's bringing special company…"

Aro looked at me confused, and then he looked at the door.

In about three seconds, Heidi walked through the door, pushing a new vampire. I feel my eyebrows scrunch together, and I gasp, as if I was hit in the stomach.

Felix grabs my arm. "Elanor?" he asks me, genuinely concerned. "What is it?"

"Her…" I say quietly, looking at the new vampire. She is slightly shorter than most of us, probably 5'1. She's got long black hair that has a definite wave to it. And her eyes are like mine, an amber color. She's dressed in a dark purple shirt and a pair of blue jeans. But none of that is what I can feel. The pull toward her power is ridiculously strong. I close my eyes and embrace her power, I can't stop myself.

Suddenly, I feel all this tension in the room, like everyone is on high alert, tension I hadn't felt a second ago. I keep myself calm, and I notice everyone else in the room suddenly relaxes. I look at the new vampire again.

This time she looks right back at me. "How did you just do that?"

"That's what I was about to ask you." I say quietly.

Aro looks between me and her. "Elanor, what is going on?"

"She's strong." I say quietly. "She has the power to read others emotions…and influence them. She was on edge before…" I say, not taking my eyes off the new vampire, "…and then I used my power and I kept myself calm, then everyone else suddenly relaxed, I felt it. She felt it."

The vampire looks at me in shock. She can tell I'm telling the truth, I see it in her face, I feel it.

Then I feel Aro's interest. "Well. This is interesting." He quickly becomes amused. "What is your name, my dear?"

"Jennifer. Jennifer Parker." She hasn't taken her eyes off mine yet.

"Jennifer? Jenny." Aro smiles at his new nickname for her.

Her head snaps toward him, and she instantly is pissed. I fight to keep myself calm. I feel everyone around me tense again. "No." she said sharply. "It's Jennifer."

Aro holds his hands up. "Jennifer." He nods. "What brings you here, to Volterra?"

She looks at me again. "I've been wandering on my own for a while, and felt the panic coming from here, and then smelt the blood." I could feel the disgust she was emitting from her body. It makes me smile.

She returns my smile.

Aro looks between us again. "Elanor, what do you think?"

But Jennifer answered. "She likes me. She approves of me." She smiled again. "Don't you?"

I nod. "I do. Though, your power is giving me a headache. How do you put up with this?"

She laughed. "Practice makes perfect." Her perfect white teeth sparkle before my eyes.

Aro became pensive. We both felt it; we both looked at him. "What is it, Aro?" I asked quietly.

"Jennifer, would you like to join us. We could most definitely use your skill here." Aro said quietly.

But I wrinkle my eyebrows. He's uncomfortable. I look at Jennifer through the corner of my eye, and catch her looking at me the same way. It makes me smile softly.

"Actually, I was just stopping in. I'm just going to go on my way. I was just curious as to how there were so many here at once." She said with a smile.

I felt Chelsea tap into her power, and I quickly used her power against her. I loosened the bond she was trying to build between Jennifer and the Guard.

Jennifer felt my offensiveness, and turned her head slightly toward me. She smiled, and her teeth sparkled again. It was fairly distracting.

Aro looked, no, felt, disappointed. I could feel it pulsating off of him. "If you feel you must go, then so be it." I watched as he looked at Chelsea through the corner of his eye, and watched her shrug.

I smiled myself. Then I looked somber. "Aro, I think it's time I must leave as well."

Aro looked at me quickly. "What?" he was actually genuinely shocked.

"I think it is time I find my own clan, one who is slightly more attuned to my eating habits. It's been my honor being here, but I feel I must also patch things up with my brother. Things were left in serious shambles when I last left him with Carlisle."

Aro became sad.

For a brief moment, I felt bad, and then I didn't. I smiled lightly at Jennifer, catching her eye again.

Aro sighed and nodded. "If you feel you must."

"I do. Forgive me." I bowed my head, then looked at Felix and smiled softly at him. "Sorry about this Felix."

He shrugged, but I could feel his hurt.

A feeling of betrayal was coming from Heidi, from Alec, even from Demetri. I sighed. "I'm not betraying you." I told them. "It's just time I find my own way." I shrugged then looked at Aro. "I appreciate all you've done for me, Aro."

He nodded. "If you ever decide to come back…" he left his sentence hanging.

I nod. "I'll be here in a heartbeat." I promised him.

Jennifer and I left together. She looked at me. "You don't plan on ever going back?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Never."

She laughed and her teeth sparkled again.

"Mind if I give you a nickname?" I asked, looking at her as we ran under the clouds outside in the city.

She looked at me apprehensively.

"I promise it won't be 'Jenny.'"

She laughed again. "Alright, let's hear it."

"Spark. Or Sparkle."

She considered it. "I like it."

"Good, cause I was gunna call you that whether you liked it or not."

This time we both laughed as we ran away from Volterra, hopefully never to return; two new friends, two new powers, one new life, and many new journeys ahead.