Chapter 18 – A Test.

"Try harder!"

"I AM trying!" I shouted at Caius, rounding on him furiously. "If you think it's so easy then YOU do it!"

Caius glared at me. "You could hurt multiple vampires at once when you were completely untrained! You ought to be able to do so now!"

"It doesn't work like that!" I stamped my foot in rage, and the stone block sank slightly beneath the force. "Stop trying to tell me what to do! What I did at the start was like…like a human sneezing! I couldn't control it, and I can't replicate it now either! Now I have perfect control over it- who I want to target, exactly what level of intensity the agony I make them feel will be, how long I can make it last…it's so much better than it was, so much more precise. You just don't know that because I'm not doing it to you!"

I glared balefully at Caius. He had taken over my 'training' after the first days, and he was a hard taskmaster. I had to admit that under his inflexible demands for perfection I had pushed myself and reached a level of skill and control sooner than I probably otherwise would have.

I also had to admit that I hated Caius. Especially after the single occasion on which I had turned my talent on him in a temper, and he then decreed that Alec and I would not train together. He told me coldly that were I to 'misbehave' again then the consequences for my brother would be dire. Since then I had kept my mental weapon well away from Caius, but it couldn't be said that I had done it with good grace.

Alec didn't seem to mind training with Caius. Perhaps because his new ability came so easily to him that there was no real reason for contention between the two of them. Perhaps part of it was also that he could practice on vampires, who were all intrigued by his ability and didn't object to being called upon to assist in training.

On the other hand, I was only permitted to train on human slaves. Once on a vampire who had displeased Caius in some way, which demonstrated clearly that my gift could be used to the same spectacular effect in both human and vampire brains. But mostly on humans, who had come to seem like a completely foreign species to me, with their wails and pleas and tears.

I turned back to the three humans I was practising on, selected the one that looked the most alive, and with only the slightest flexing of my mental muscle dropped him to the ground, writhing and screaming with agony.

He lost consciousness before I could really test the length I was able to hold it, and I exclaimed in irritation. No one had ever lasted long enough to push the boundaries of my ability. A vampire probably would have, since we lacked the ability to lose consciousness, but I hadn't been allowed to attempt it. The poor unfortunate who had angered Caius apparently hadn't been that bad.

"I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter," Caius said, coming to stand beside me and looking critically at the three humans on the floor. One was sprawled out, unconscious, and the other two were cowering, half dead and fully terrified, against the wall. "It doesn't seem likely that you'll ever need to sustain it for any length of time. So far no one has been able to stand up to it."

I folded my arms. "Perhaps these humans are just exceptionally weak. They have allowed themselves to be caught and enslaved by you, after all."

"As though they had a choice!" Caius scoffed. "However, I think we're done for today. I suppose you'll want one of these?"

I ignored the slight sneer in Caius' voice. I knew he thought I ought to be learning discipline when it came to how often I fed, but practising with my talent inevitably left my throat scorched with thirst and it seemed reasonable to reward my efforts with one of the humans I'd been working with.

I frowned at the three humans. It's not as though they were much use for anything else once I'd done with them anyway. What I could do appeared to be an extreme form of torture, and more than one human had died as their body gave out under the strain.

"That one," I decided, pointing to the largest one. "I'm thirsty." I beckoned her forward and, glazed and dumb, she followed me into the main hall.

Aro was in there, seated on his throne and gazing contemplatively around. When he saw me his face lit up with his smile and he pressed his hands together.

"Jane, my sweetling, have you been working hard? Caius, how is our little one coming along?" Aro enquired cheerfully.

Coming behind me with the other two humans, Caius nodded at Aro. "Excellently. Should the situation arise, I believe it will be a most effective tool." He held out his hand, and for the briefest moment Aro touched his palm.

"Splendid. Really, little one," he added in my direction, "You have quite exceeded our expectations on your progress."

I basked in the praise. "Thank you my lord."

"You're planning to feed on that?" Aro enquired, nodding towards the human I had grasped by her wrist. When I confirmed it, he looked at the other two humans a little ruefully. "You don't leave them looking very appetising, I must say. However I think I'll join you…that one, thank you Caius."

None too gently Caius pushed the smallest human, a girl a few years older than me, towards Aro. She stumbled, and as Aro lifted her tenderly to her feet I scowled. Snivelling little brat, she should be honoured that it was Lord Aro ending her miserable life. Better him than one of those apes like Felix or Appius, all brawn and no brains or talent. She should be grateful that I'd spared her and she'd be allowed to nourish Aro in her final moments. But no, all she was going to do was cry…

Spitefully I sent a bolt of pain in her direction, and she shrieked like a person gone mad. Aro petted her absently and gave me a look of amused tolerance. "Really sweetling!"

I smirked at him as I sank my teeth through the skin of the human, and sucked greedily at the welling blood. Aro lifted the girl effortlessly onto his lap and drank her blood at the same time, and for a long moment there was nothing in the vast hall but the sound of sucking and swallowing.

Aro finished first, and sat on his throne watching me, the body of the girl lying across his lap as he idly played with her hair. When I finished I sat back on the floor, wiping my hand across my face to clean off any errant bloodstains.

"Dispose of them, please," Aro commanded, and I immediately dragged the two corpses across to the hole in the floor, heaving the grate aside and throwing them in. I knew by now that all the bodies dropped down into a crematory and were burned away to ash.

"Come, little one," Aro said invitingly. "Sit with me. Let's talk awhile."

I sat on the floor, crossing my legs and looking up at Aro

"Caius is very impressed with you," he told me with a smile. "He says you have a formidable talent, and are developing great strength."

I raised my eyebrows. "It might be nice if he said things like that to me, instead of simply shouting at me to try harder."

Aro gave a tinkly laugh. "Oh sweetling, you mustn't take Caius too seriously! He can seem so cross, I know, but it is simply that he is so utterly single-minded about making the Volturi as strong and powerful as possible. And you my dear, delight him with what you are able to do!"

The admiration warmed me. "I want to do everything I can for you."

"Hmm." Aro looked at me speculatively. "Caius was considering taking you with him on his next journey."

"Leave Volterra?" The idea simultaneously excited and terrified me.

"Temporarily," Aro assured me. "And you wouldn't be going far. But there has been some trouble over on the Iberian Peninsula and we feel it is our duty to investigate and step in if necessary."

"What kind of trouble?" I ventured. Aro was not usually one to sit around and chat, but he seemed in a sociable mood and I was flattered that he appeared pleased with my company.

"Entire villages slaughtered," Aro said peevishly. "Not even a hint of effort to clean up either. We're not sure whether it is a rogue newborn or a mature vampire who has descended to madness, but it cannot be allowed to continue."

I nodded. "What would you have me do?"

"Accompany them. Caius believes your gift might be useful in…persuading miscreants to tell the truth. While it is simple for me to gain the truth of a situation, it is not wise for me to be away too often. Particularly if it is with Caius and we leave only Marcus in charge." Aro frowned faintly.

My own frown matched his, as I thought of the older vampire, who despite his immortal strength seemed often little more than a wraith about the castle. His grief for his wife had never faded, and I wondered if it was like that for all vampires. Certainly Aro's determination never to lose his wife was intense, and had led him to taking the extreme step of confining her to the tower for her own safety.

"Who would go? Caius and Alec and I…"

"Oh, I think Alec would stay here," Aro said lightly. "He won't be needed on this particular expedition, and I'm sure I couldn't bear it if both of my precious twins were away."

For a second, just a brief fraction of time, I could have scratched his eyes from his face. Alec was mine! My brother, my other half…I wouldn't give him up for anyone, not even Aro with all the wealth and power of the Volturi!

But the moment passed, to be replaced by a horrifying feeling of sickness that I had even thought that. After all Aro had done for me…

"Of course," I said quietly.

"Matilda and Willamar have been hearing these stories of human terror, so they will go to assist in finding the place. Willamar's tracking skills are usually invaluable in situations like this. Felix and Appius will accompany you also, to guard and implement the justice that Caius will demand." Aro's keen eyes noticed the tiny twitch in my face that I tried to hide. "This doesn't please you?"

I shook my head. "I'm not displeased with what you decide, my lord. I will just…miss my brother, that's all."

It wasn't all, but it was all that I felt like going into with Aro at that point. And it was true. I would miss my brother. This expedition would mark the first real separation between the two of us.

"You will not be away for long," Aro told me consolingly. "You're woefully ignorant about the world too, and it will be pleasant for you to see a little more of it. Not to mention what a splendid opportunity it will be to test your gift!"

Intuitively I knew it would be more than a test of my gift. It would be a test of me as a member of the Volturi, a test of the obedience and loyalty my place here demanded of me. And they would hold my brother, so there was no room for error.

"I'll do my best for you, my lord," I said soberly, and Aro leaned across and stroked my face.

"I don't doubt it, sweetling. But now, you've stained your gown with the blood…come along with me to my lady wife's rooms and you may bathe in her tub."

I went with him willingly. I loved the comparative privacy of the wives' bathing room. The large bathhouse on the lower level was grand and beautiful, but I had come to hate undressing in front of any of the other vampires. I was always so self conscious about my underdeveloped, child's body when surrounded by so much chiselled or voluptuous vampire flesh, knowing that they would look at me with pity. Only with Alec did I feel comfortable, and the best times were when it was the two of us alone, swimming in the enormous pools as we had once swum in the river at home.

The wives were delighted to see Aro and I come through the door, and Sulpicia immediately hustled me towards the tub.

"I have a new dress for you," she told me sweetly. "I've finished embroidering it just now…how lovely that you've come up in need of it and can wear it right away!"

Alec was in the rooms too, listening to Claudia play the cithara, alongside Caius and Athenodora, but he excused himself and came with me into the bathroom.

"Caius says that you're going with him on some expedition," Alec said, his tone deliberately neutral.

"Yes. There's a vampire breaking all the rules, and they want to go and put a stop to it. Caius thinks that perhaps I can help. But…" I bit off my words at Alec's warning headshake, realising immediately that Aro and Caius would be hearing everything next door. "I'll miss you," I finished softly.

"It will be good to test your abilities in that situation," Alec mused. "And you can see some more of the world…you'll have to show me on the map where you go."

I scrubbed my hands, ridding myself of the blood beneath my fingernails, and didn't answer. Alec was right that it would be a good chance to test my abilities, and the idea of seeing something more of the world was thrilling. But I didn't like the idea that Alec would be left behind, a hostage to my own success, and that suddenly the place here that I'd felt was assured suddenly seemed to rest so precariously on the outcome of a test I had no say in.