Hello again!
I just wanted to thank all you readers who have added my story to favourites and alerts, it means alot to know that people are reading this :) and huge thanks to angel2u and XxYuikixX for being my first ever reviewers! COOKIES FOR ALL!
And yes, this is going to be an AlecxOC story! Don't worry, alec will be in the next chapter in all his smexy glory!
Well, here's chapter 2. I know theres not alot of action but it leads up to all the interesting things that will happen in chapter 3, ENJOI!
And before i forget, I don't own annyyy of these characters other than Emilia, Alvira, and Lilith. Twilight, and all it's sparkly glory belongs to Stephanie Meyer.~
It was one of those nights where sleep failed to find me. The events that occurred earlier that day were on repeat in my head. I could tell Lilith wasn't having a good night either. Just as I was finally about to drift off with sleep; Lilith burst out crying for the second time that night.
The unpleasant incident was doing strange things to us… It was usually me that cried for countless hours, not Lilith. I was astounded at the maturity and calmness that seemed to suddenly develop within me, and I rubbed soothing circles on Lilith's back while whispering gentle words. Just like she always did to me.
"Shhh, Lilith it's going to be alright. When we get to Paris we can go do a whole bunch of crazy things and forget all this ever happened. We're safe now; our parents will make sure of it."
Just as I mentioned my parents, my phone started vibrating madly in my purse. I rushed over to unzip it and I examined the Caller ID. 'Call from Eliza White.' The screen announced. I hurriedly pressed the green button and shoved the phone to my ear.
"Hello?" I answered, breathless.
"Alvira sweetie, what's going on?" My mom's sweet voice asked in a worried tone.
I took a deep breath, and told her the whole story (with the occasional detail from Lilith, who was still recovering from the shock). I told her about Lilith suggested we go to Volterra, and then ended it off with the part where we just barely escaped the castle.
My mom listened intently, with the frequent gasp of surprised here and there. When I was finished, all that was left was a silence filled with anxiety and heaps of tension.
"…Mom?" I questioned warily.
"…Hold on sweet heart, I have to have a word with your father." She replied. My heart started to sink to my stomach in dread at the tone her voice possessed. The only other time her voice held such wariness was when she informed me my dearest Grandma Freya was dying of the horrid disease known as Cancer. She was still alive today, but barely. She had to live in a hospital for the rest of her life.
In the midst of the conversation, I didn't notice Lilith crawling over to my side and I let out a surprised squeal when I turned my head a smidge to find her serious face in close proximity of the phone – probably to pick up as much of the conversation as possible.
A few more moments of the tension-filled silence resumed. Not even Lilith had the spirit to break it like she usually did. I had set the phone in front of me on speaker-phone and we both literally sat there staring at it restlessly. After a few more moments my mom's voice finally resounded through the phone's speaker, and Lilith and I jolted back to life.
"Listen to me closely Alvira. Your father and I have contacted a body guard that, fortunately, happens to be very close by to where your hotel is. I want you and Lilith to stay in your room until she reaches you. She will escort you two to the airport and personally take the flight back with you, understand?" My mom's voice asked, grave.
"I understand…But what will she look like? What's her name?" I replied, questions just streaming into my head like water.
"Her name is Emilia; you'll know her when you see her. I must be going now" She stated apologetically.
"Your father and I have to catch a flight back to Washington. There have been many accidents involving lost limbs, and the hospital there is in need of your father's aid." She informed regretfully.
"Right…I'll tell Lilith everything." I reassured. "Oh and Mom, thanks for everything…" I said, suddenly aware of just how lucky Lilith and I were to have such protective parents.
"Send Lilith my regards, and one more thing. Alvira…please come back home safely. The both of you... I'll be praying on my whole flight back. You two will never leave my thoughts, and I will inform Lilith's parents of this as soon as I can. I'll see you soon back in Washington, please…be safe. I love you." My mom replied, sadness coated her voice like a cold blanket.
"I love you too mom, I promise we'll make it back safely…tell dad I love him too" I answered sadness similar to my mom's. I was about to hang up, but then a male's voice interrupted. "Wait!"
My hand stopped halfway in the air, halting its journey to the red END button.
"Dad? Is that you?" I asked with uncertainty.
"Alvira, you have no idea how serious this is. Once Emilia arrives at your door, do not, and I repeat do not leave her side." My father's solemn voice instructed, and the line went dead.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it in shock of the instructions my dad gave me to stay close to this Emilia woman. I came to a conclusion that whoever that perilously, beautiful woman that lured us into the tour was, she meant danger. And what led behind those doors meant even more danger, and death.
I glanced at Lilith to find that she was equally as dazed as I was, if not even more so. Then finally, for the first time, she spoke a steady sentence. "I guess all we can do now is start wait for that Emilia woman…" she declared. I looked over at the mirror across from us and examined our reflections. Her eyes were rimmed with red from crying so much, and her cheeks were very pink. My reflection wasn't much different, and my eyes seemed to lose their silver shine from the grieving.
"Well…might as well not sit around…let's watch T.V. or something." I supposed.
Lilith took a deep breath as if she was doing yoga. "…your right. Let's." She said with a strained smile on her face. I knew she was trying her best to return to her usual persona and stop moping, but I knew she was still terrified. I gave her a reassuring smile of my own and we then took a seat on the elegant red couch the room contained. I grabbed the remote and turned the flat screen T.V. on.
To our dismay, we were met with a pair of large fangs that sunk its way into some poor victim's neck. We watched, paralyzed with fear as the vampire proceeded to drink the blood of an innocent woman. Finally, Lilith swiftly grabbed the remote out of my still hands and changed the channel to comedy.
"Oops…" I spoke, giving a nervous smile. The Big Bang Theory was on, and that was our favorite show. But today, not even Sheldon's odd way of speech could cheer us up. We sat in silence, simply staring at the T.V. and zoning out.
Then a few sharp knocks on our door shot us right back into reality. I sat upright, my eyes as wide as saucers with alarm. Lilith started chewing her newly manicured nails – a nervous habit that she could not get out of no matter what she tried. We slowly and anxiously made our way to the door, praying it wasn't another bizarre person inviting us on a tour. The person at the door seemed impatient, as they rapped on the door again more loudly. I gave Lilith a wary glance, and she slowly nodded and gestured at the door knob for me to open it.
I opened the door a smidge, and was greeted by a tall woman that seemed to be in her late 20's. She was wearing one of those lady's business suits that screamed professional. Beneath her outfit, I could see toned arms that roughly resembled that of a woman body builder and her height was a staggering 6'0, towering over my mine easily. I had to crane my neck upwards to see her face.
She had a very attractive face. Her complexion was as pale as the moon, and her eyes were a shocking golden color. She had high cheekbones, full lips, and dark hair tied back in a sleek ponytail. But I knew just by a glance that she was no snobby model. She had a hard look in her eyes, and judging by her appearance and sturdy aura, I knew she could take on an army with just her fists. I didn't even dare to imagine what it would be like to get her angry.
She contemplated me quietly, her gaze softened into a friendly one you would use around frightened children.
I opened the door all the way to let Lilith see, and her eyes widened. Then I saw something in Lilith's eyes…fear? I gave her a confused stare, but then realization slowly made its way into my system. Bit by bit, I turned my head back to the woman in front of us and gasped. She resembled the woman back in Volterra – unnatural eyes and pale skin. I slowly started to back away from the door dreadfully. What if she was working for that woman? What if she was just going to kill us here and now for fleeing the tour?
The woman stared at us puzzled, but then I saw understanding enter her eyes and she chuckled softly.
"Do not fret my dear ones; I come on behalf of your father, Alphard White. He has notified me about your recent trip to Volterra and the incidents that have occurred. Fear not, your help is here, my name is Emilia." She informed in a friendly, but professional way. I let out a huge sigh of relief and behind me; I could hear Lilith doing the same. So she was on our side. But why did she resemble that woman so much?
From my peripheral vision I saw Lilith walk out from behind me to greet Emilia. "I'm so relieved you're here for us! My name is Lilith Sanders and this here is Alvira White" Lilith introduced. Emilia grinned, revealing perfect white teeth, and held out her hand for us to shake.
Lilith shook hers first, and I saw her flinch a bit, but quickly recovered. It was then my turn to shake Emilia's hand. The moment my skin touched hers I could see why Lilith was flinched. Her skin was as cold as ten buckets full of ice! After I shook her cold hand, I gave her a nervous smile and withdrew my hand.
That hard look of hers returned, as if she just entered professional mode again, and she quickly did a once-over of the room. Then, it was finally time to leave.
She helped us send our luggage to the airport via Italy's travel services since cars were not allowed on the streets of Venice. The sun was slowly setting and I could see the moon slowly start to rise against the horizon. We rode a water taxi to the large airport, and after we checked in, we got past security and took a seat. Emilia had directed our luggage to go to Washington. That was where ours and our parent's destination was.
While Emilia was away to get some coffee for the both of us, Lilith and I started having a normal conversation for the first time in these two hectic days. Lilith's cheery character had seemed to make a comeback from fear's confinement. And I was pleased to say that I wasn't doing all that badly either, for Emilia's company had brought a great amount of reassurance for our safety.
"Well, I guess we aren't going to be visiting Italy anytime soon" Lilith confirmed, with huge relief.
"Agreed, I think our lives have been scarred enough as is. So, what kind of events will we be attending when we arrive in Paris, Mademoiselle? " I asked in French. Paris was by far our favorite place to go during the holidays, thus resulting in our fluency in the French language. The city was romantic, the stores were high class, and best of all, the place didn't resemble Italy, not even in the slightest – just what we needed to get away from the trauma.
Right when Lilith was about to respond with what I presumed was at least twenty different ideas – Emilia came back with two steaming coffees in both hands. She handed us both one each and I couldn't help but notice that her skin still remained ice cold even after carrying those warm coffee.
I muttered a small 'thank you 'and proceeded to sip my coffee.
"Emilia…do you know who those people are? The one's that seemed to use the castle in Volterra as their secret base…" Lilith asked.
Emilia took a moment to contemplate, as if deliberating whether or not to tell us. Then finally, she spoke. "What I am about to tell you two is important and it is vital that you do not speak of it. Not to yourselves, not to anyone. It may seem to be very false, and frankly, it doesn't concern me whether or not you believe what I am about to tell you. But, after today, you will act as if I have never spoken of such things to you two, understand?" Emilia asked. The graveness in her voice quickly turned the once cheery atmosphere, into a grim mood.
We nodded, keen on finding out the identities of the violet-eyed woman, and the receptionist.
Emilia nodded and took a deep breath. "They call themselves the Volturi. An organization , or coven as we call it, of vampires. Yes, they feed on human blood, but that's about the only part of the folklore that's true. Vampires do exist, but not akin to the ones in the stories or T.V. shows you are entertained with rather frequently. The Volturi aren't the only ones out there. There are many of their kind roaming the world. The reason the secret hasn't been exposed is thanks to the Volturi. They enforce the law – they are royalty. One slight slip up and they will hunt you down to the ends of the earth to administer only one punishment – death." Emilia spoke; her golden eyes watched ours solemnly.
A dead silence followed her speech. I was immediately reminded of the vampire that appeared on our T.V. back in the hotel room brutally drinking out of a victim's neck. Vampires? Volturi? Drinking human blood?
Dozens of questions starting swarming around in my head like angry bees.
"But if they're so keen on keeping everything secret, why were they luring in over a dozen tourists into their…lair?" I demanded.
"You misunderstand, the Volturi …– no, all vampires need blood to survive. As long as they clean up their messes and leave no evidence behind that could expose their kind, The Volturi could care less what you do. As for your question, the Volturi's methods of ensnaring their meals are very discreet." Emilia explained.
Then, the light bulb turned on in my head. It all made sense. Their method was the dangerously beautiful woman, luring in tourists for a 'tour'. Then they would be lured into the castle – where the vampires could do whatever they wanted with those unfortunate souls.
Lilith let out a huge gasp; her eyes held shock and what I assumed was the same realization.
"So...we were actually going to be…f-food for…vampires?" Lilith cried a little bit too loudly. In a split second, Emilia was in front of Lilith with one hand covering Lilith's mouth. I gawked at how quickly Emilia managed to get in front of Lilith. She was literally a blur.
"Quiet! You know too much already, do you really want to let the whole world know such creatures exist?" Emilia hissed sharply. She slowly took her hand away from Lilith's mouth, and Lilith muttered a timid, quiet apology.
Emilia returned to her seat and resumed her explanation. "Nevertheless, The Volturi know you two have escaped, and I doubt their twiddling their sitting around twiddling their thumbs right now. They're most likely sending their guards to find you and get rid of you."
I felt my stomach churn with dread. And judging by the sharp intakes of breath Lilith was taking besides me, I knew she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Relax; we're too far away for them to track. You did not happen to encounter a specific male there, have you?" Emilia quizzed.
"N-n-no… just two females….one was the tour guide and the other was…a receptionist?" Lilith described stumbling over her words.
"You are in luck. They happen to have… a very talented tracker amongst their ranks. His name is Demetri I believe. You see, some vampires, when transformed into what they are, are gifted with special abilities. Emilia explained, as if she was giving us a whole lesson on Vampire 101.
"…did that woman have a gift?" Lilith uneasily asked.
"I don't know very much about the Volturi other than what I have told you. But yes. Her name is Heidi, by the way. She has the gift of attraction. She is so physically alluring that it is difficult for humans of any gender, or even vampires to resist her requests and invitations. In a way, she's like a magnet for food. I'm rather surprised that you two even realized you were being lead into their home." Emilia said, her eyes flickering between the both of us. As she said the last part of that sentence, her eyes rested on me for more than the usual few seconds, as if she was trying to figure something out.
Suddenly, all the lights went off, the only source of luminance was the large, bright full moon outside.
I sat up in alarm, and so did Lilith. We scooted closer to each other, and looked around in fright.
Emilia stood up brusquely, and slowly scanned the area around us with her sharp eyes.
"Wha…what's happening? A black out?" I asked frightfully. I could feel my body begin to tremble with fear. I was absolutely terrified of the dark, and I held onto Lilith even tighter.
I looked around the room, and to my surprise, I had failed to notice that we were the only ones in the vicinity. I couldn't hear any whispers or movement other than ours. The place was deserted and that fact alone was strange. In my whole life, I had never seen an empty airport. It was like a foreshadowing – that something dangerous was lurking near us. I felt nauseous as fear gripped my accelerating heart.
Emilia noticed my discomfort. "Alvira! Breath, we're going to be alright. It's just a blackout. Not the first time it's happened in an airport, trust me." She reassured, but the lights didn't seem to be coming back anytime soon.
I started inhaling and exhaling. It didn't do much to calm my racing heartbeat, but I didn't feel as nauseous anymore. I was glad that in a half an hour or so, when the power would hopefully be back on, we would be boarding the plane to Washington and away from Italy. And I wouldn't come back no matter what.
I then heard two pairs of footsteps striding towards us. I looked towards the direction it was coming from. I heard the jingling of keys and in the dark; I could make out two figures in police uniforms. One was slimmer than the other, wearing a rather tight fitting uniform that flaunted her natural body shape that seemed to resemble Heidi's underneath the red top she wore in Volterra. I shuddered at the memory of that terrifying woman.
I saw Emilia's shadow step in front of us protectively, and the two guards stopped right in front of her. They started conversing in Italian, the conversation sounded harsh and urgent as their voices started getting louder in volume.
Lilith leaned towards my ear and whispered, "Al, I have a really bad feeling about those two…"
"Me too…" I replied, eyeing the two uniformed figures with wary suspicion.
The conversation then stopped, and as if on cue, the lights popped back on revealing the two officers. I looked pass Emilia's protective stance to scrutinize our new company. As I suspected, one was female and the other was male, his height just barely loomed over Emilia's tall frame. They both adorned police hats on their heads, covering most of their face. Their skin was almost as pale as their white uniforms, blending in with each other.
The female tilted her head towards me. A sly smirk formed on her full lips, and she lifted her hat. My eyes widened, alarm bells sounding in my head. In front of Emilia, there stood the woman that almost lured us to our death; Heidi.
I abruptly stood up, and started backing up along with Lilith. Heidi's unnatural violet shaded eyes followed our movement with a hint of amusement.
The man beside her had also taken off his cap. He had light, brown hair that was cut short, and slightly resembled a fohawk. He had brown eyes that had a bit of red peeking out around the edges of his pupil. He had a polite smile that held a bit of amusement, and his eyes held arrogance.
Then as if someone pushed the fast forward button to a movie, the three started moving at abnormal speeds. Everything was a blur, and in two seconds everything went still. The man had Emilia on the floor, securing her hands behind her back.
Heidi had somehow gotten behind us and her cold hands were clamped around mine and Lilith's elbows.
"I'm surprised. I was rather eager to be presented with at least some difficulty in tracking you. But it took no effort at all to find you here." The man mused, with Emilia still pinned down.
'Vampires' I thought to myself fearfully. They all shared the same pale skin, and extreme speed.
"You two won't be getting away from me again, I'll make sure of it." Heidi said calmly, but the calmness failed to mask the hint of menace in her begrudgingly lovely voice.
"Now why don't we settle this like civilized…beings shall we?" Heidi asked, clearly directing the question at Emilia. "Just hand over these two lovely young ladies without committing to any…violence, and we will leave you well on your way." Heidi compromised, her violet eyes fixed directly at Emilia.
"Tsk, Heidi you should be ashamed of yourself. Did you not hear this one?" The man playfully reprimanded, gesturing at Emilia, powerless on the ground underneath his grip.
"She was spilling all of our secrets out to those two as if it were something you tell on a daily basis. She puts us all at risk of being uncovered. We're bringing her along with those two to Aro." The man stated with finality.
Heidi chuckled. "Yes, your right Demetri. How could I have been so foolish? My apologies," Heidi said, mock sympathy clearly evident in her voice. "But you should be honored, not many get the privilege to be in the throne room on speaking terms with Aro." Heidi stated to Emilia with an arrogant grin.
Emilia's eyes narrowed coldly at Heidi. "How did you manage to get past all the humans and the security cameras!" Emilia hissed, hatred shining in her eyes.
Heidi gave an arrogant smile, "I have a way of… persuading people. I gathered uniforms for Demetri and I and before your arrival. I instructed those frail humans in the control room to give an announcement with orders to evacuate this specific gate so we could fix some technical difficulties. They certainly couldn't resist my charm, and I specifically allowed only you three accesses and turned off the security cameras in this corner. Demetri also filled in any lose holes in our plan so no one questioned it. After today, it will be like nothing happened. And now, as you can see – we have the whole area to ourselves." Heidi explained, smiling. My eyes widened in shock at how powerful these people really were. They could take control of a whole airport with just a few words and disguises. I inwardly wondered if they could even sway the president into destroying countries.
Emilia clenched her jaw in anger, and she closed her eyes in defeat. Demetri pulled her back up from her position on the ground, his hands still gripping Emilia's behind her back.
"Shall we depart from here then, dearest Heidi?" Demetri asked politely.
"Yes, yes we shall." Heidi responded, and released my elbow to put her police hat back on. I quickly used this opportunity to bolt to the nearest exit. I didn't even make it five steps and I felt her cold, steel grip return to my now bruised elbow.
"I suggest you don't pull any funny business from now on, or else I will stuff you in a suitcase." Heidi warned calmly in my ear. I instantly froze in fear at the threat. In any other situation, I would have deemed it humorous and gave a hearty laugh. But today wasn't a day for fun and jokes. I glared at her and she, with Demetri, proceeded to haul us out of the airport.
Many people gave us quizzical stares and I wondered why they weren't calling security. Hello? We were being hauled by evil vampires that were going to kill us once they had us back in their ancient home.
Then I realized that through the eyes of our spectators, we weren't the victims. And they also didn't know vampires such as the ones constraining us, existed. I then recalled that Heidi and Demetri were still wearing their officer uniforms. We looked like criminals, possibly responsible for the black-out that happened just moments ago. I then started recognizing repulsion in the ever increasing stares. I felt dread fill me, it was like we were being blackmailed. Never in my life had I broke the law, I was always on justice's side. But now, justice didn't seem to be on my side.
A couple of other officers came up to Demetri and Heidi with looks of approval, and what I assumed was hearty words of praise in Italian. The officers threw me, Lilith and Emilia cold looks of disdain and disappointment. I clenched my teeth in anger, and forced myself to look at the floor. I didn't think I could contain myself if I saw another look of disgust thrown at me.
Heidi gave them a charming smile, and we were off on our way back to Volterra. In the corner of my eye, I could see silent tears running down Lilith's face, and she looked down as well, her red hair fell around her face like a shield.
We arrived out of the airport and started riding a private ferry. The man operating it had a dark grey cloak on, and greeted Demetri and Heidi with a wave.
"You're going to make Aro a bit too happy. You brought a third one as well?" the man asked, amused
"Yes, this one has been found to be breaking the law. We'll dispose of her shortly after Aro gives us instruction on what to do with these two" Demetri replied, gesturing at Lilith and I.
The man with the cloak nodded, and proceeded to steer the ferry out of Venice.
We were going back to Volterra, the place me and Lilith despised and feared the most now. I looked back and watched as the city of Venice started getting smaller and smaller against the horizon until it was just a tiny, dot filled with sparkling lights. I looked forward and found that we were being led into a tunnel. Only darkness awaited us from here, and not even Emilia's sturdy aura could light up this darkness.
We were being lead to our death, and all I could do was brace myself mentally for what was to come.
And there goes chapter 2! We have been introduced to Emilia and now their ALL going on a trip back to Volterra.
I'm also basing the Volturi's appearances off of the movies, since I think Demetri and Alec are extremely good looking in the movies than in the books. Cuz in the books demetri's suppose to have long dark hair that waves to his shoulders lololol. Also Heidi isn't lookin all that bad either ;)
Let's find out what will happen to them in the next chapter, shall we? ;)
If you got criticism for my story or i'm doing something thats REALLLY ticking u off, then feel free to drop a review, i'm very open minded!. Oh and if you reallly like this story, than add this to alerts :)
Till next time - Snowbell3