Narrator's POV

It had been a week since Carly was turned, yet she didn't act like the typical newborn. With her bonds all twisted in the wrong direction, she had nothing to lose. Her once-chaotic, streaming thoughts were reduced to little dots. She never smiled, keeping her lips in a straight, expressionless line. The way she acted was almost robotic, very automatic and with no purpose.

Carly leaned against the tree nonchalantly as she waited for the criminal. Caius and Aro had sent her with Demetri and Felix to punish a vampire for becoming too conspicuous. He had caused a panic in a small city in Italy that was spreading word of a serial killer on the loose. A vampire as new as Carly typically wouldn't have been sent out, but Carly was very controlled—she knew when she was thirsty and found that it wasn't as mandatory for her.

She listened very carefully, her hand placed against the bark as she waited for any sound to give away the terrified vampire. Her body stood strong like a statue out in the open. Demetri and Felix had hidden to be less noticeable, but Carly didn't. She personally didn't feel threatened by anyone.

Her hand suddenly shot out as she caught the vampire in one move. Her eyes flickered at him quickly with disinterest before she placed her hand on his head, letting heat flow from it. He began to scream in surprise as fire ran down his face. It began to consume his hard, impenetrable skin, licking away any protection he had before.

"Carly, stop burning him. He must know his treason before he's executed," Demetri said as he came out from behind the trees. He tapped her shoulder gently to keep her attention. Carly nodded, putting her hand down as the flames automatically disappeared. Although he wasn't burning anymore, the damage was obvious. Places on his face were missing that once used to be there, black marks surrounding them.

The vampire shook in horror as he stared at Carly. "Wha-what is she?" He asked timidly. His eyes studied her in confusion, trying to find something that pointed to new, but he couldn't find it.

Demetri smirked, looking back at Felix. "She's the same as you and I—she's a vampire." The man shook his head.

"She can't be! No vampire should have that much power." He placed a light hand on his face, nearly yelping as he felt the rough surface.

"It's her gift," Felix said with a simple tone. He was just as eager as Carly to get it over with. The vampire blinked quickly; he was too shocked to say more.

"Are you afraid of fire, because I'm not," Carly said quietly. Her red eyes stayed frozen with no sympathy for what came next. She held out her hands to show him, the skin still a smooth white stone with no sign of the fire damaging it. "It doesn't do anything."

"Impossible," the vampire hissed. "Fire is what destroys us."

"Much like it's going to do to you," Demetri added. "Now, Matthew, you know what you've done. It is not acceptable to kill as many people as you have in such little time. The humans have noticed, and soon, if it doesn't stop, they'll look for other answers," he finished with a business like voice.

Matthew licked his lips, nodding. "I promise I won't do it as much," he said, thinking he would be safe. Felix chuckled at his words, knowing that a promise wouldn't do. They were here to carry out a punishment and all of them ended up the same. He walked over, pinning down Matthew with ease as he stared at his eyes.

"We know you can't promise that," Felix said coldly before ripping his head off. He dropped it next to the body, looking at Carly as he pointed towards the remains.

She opened up her palm at the signal, letting the flame take over what was left. Her fingers brushed lightly against the flames, feeling only a soft tickle as she released it to do what it wanted from the offered kindle. "Let's go; we're on a tight schedule," Carly said stiffly, ignoring the fact that they had just executed one of their kind.

Felix and Demetri looked at each other with raised brows before following Carly back to their castle home.

Caius's POV

"You have two choices." I said with an annoyed voice. One of the castle messengers conveyed her message the wrong way. I was all for getting rid of Anastasia, but Aro felt her punishment should match her mistake. It was the first mistake the tiny ginger made in nearly fifty years since joining the guard. I pointed at Carly and Jane standing silently by my side. "You can either have Carly burn you for a minute, or you can have Jane torture you until I say stop. Choose wisely, as each one has its consequences."

She stared at Jane and Carly, back and forth, because she knew exactly what each effect would be. Carly's would be physical, leaving marks that their vampire skin could no longer repair. Jane's was mental and indefinite; she didn't know how long the pain would last.

"What shall you choose?" Aro asked curiously as he came into the throne room. He smiled, placing his hands behind his back as he waited for his soon-to-be entertainment.

"I..." Anastasia said softly. "I... I don't know." She shook nervously as she thought about the outcomes.

"You have thirty seconds, then it's my turn to decide," I answered impatiently. I didn't want hesitation like this; it made the punishment more dramatic than it really was.

"I'll take the burning," Anastasia answered quickly in the next second, her eyes held on Jane with complete terror. Jane was older than Anastasia, so she knew her more than she knew Carly. She also knew for a fact that Jane was not to be messed with. She had the power to make someone hurt beyond description, and Anastasia didn't want to feel it again with purpose.

"Carly, come here," I said with a snap of my fingers. Carly was next to Anastasia in an instant.

"Kneel down," she said coldly, her hands held up as they began to glow with heat.

"Try your best not to scream. You chose this, and I do not want to hear complaints," I reminded her as Carly placed her hands on the girl's face.

Anastasia grimaced in pain as she felt the intense heat take hold. She wanted to cry out with agony at this new pain—one that most vampires experienced only if they were dying, yet this didn't kill her. Instead, it stayed focused on one area. Very unnatural for a fire, except this one was controlled in such a way that it had no means of completely consuming her unless Carly allowed it to.

I looked at Aro's face as he watched with interest; he was trying to figure out how to use her power in a fight if we needed her to. The complexities of her power surprised me because I thought it was simple: all she had to do was barge forward and let her fire sweep out anything in the way. It was frightening to some, but to me it was complete power, something that was very important.

Carly's POV

I kept my arms in a rigged position as I continued to burn the vampire Caius had ordered me to. Caius told her not to scream or complain and she did exactly as he asked, but I could feel her shifting her weight back and forth to bottle in her cries of pain. She couldn't pass out, because our bodies don't work like that. Rest was a forgotten memory for a vampire.

She began to shake as she could feel her face deforming. She chose me because she didn't think my gift was as real as this. She really had no idea how much it would hurt. Not that I knew either; after I was turned, fire did nothing to me. It didn't damage my skin at all, which helped me control fire a thousand times better. As Caius had expected, I became something that was not to be questioned.

I began to dig my fingers in as she tried to slip down and out of my grip. She was not to leave until a full minute had passed. I could hear her teeth grinding together as she realized that she had no hope for escape. She became limper, letting her body slip back into place as she closed her eyes tightly. I counted in my head to be fair because that was what Aro believed in; the punishment had to be carried out exactly as described.

"Wh-What are you d-doingto her?" I heard a familiar timid voice implore. My head instantly snapped back with instinct to stare at a young vampire standing a few steps away from the hall, no older than a teenager. He had very prominent scars on his face, which was strange since the transformation usually healed any sort of injury. Apart from the red lines on his extremely pale complexion, his head was decorated with a shock of straight auburn-colored hair that wisped in several directions. His big red eyes were raised in questioning worry as he stared at my flaming hands on Anastasia's face.

"My dear boy, I thought you were cleaning the halls," Aro said in a softened voice as he stepped to block my view of that auburn hair. "Come out with me, and I'll explain all this in private." The vampire boy took small diagonal steps backward for one last look. We locked eyes, and it was as if all time had stopped around us. I could detect shock and concern in his face, but mostly it was fear. His lips were slightly parted and they trembled with the weight of the question he dared not ask. But I knew. "Why?" his eyes seemed to speak for his voice. "Why are you doing this? What have you become?" It was as if he knew me—not as a vampire guard—but for me as a person. Aro calmly herded him out of the room, and within a few seconds, Aro and the quiet vampire were gone.

I felt a frown appear on my face as I realized that I recognized the voice. It was so familiar and it...it made me feel happy. My hands stayed absent-mindedly on Anastasia's face as the time ended for her punishment to be over. She began to scream at me as I stayed frozen in place, unable to move until I figured out who that voice belonged to.

Then I remembered. The only person who had ever been kind to me in this place since I arrived, how he had given me food when I was near to starving. The only one who attempted to speak a friendly word. Patches.

"Carly, it's done. You don't need to do it anymore; you may release her," Caius said with an annoyed voice. It was clear he didn't think twice about my sudden freeze up; he didn't suspect anything. I shoved Anastasia down as anger began to fuel my heart. I hated Caius, but I couldn't think clearly about it. Why did I hate him?

I stood still again as I tried to remember. All I could remember was my struggle with that one vampire when I tried to escape. It was fuzzy, but I could still remember. Caius must have bitten me right after that, probably when I turned to the door. It must have been then because I couldn't even remember turning, and that was supposed to be the most painful part of a vampire's existence. My eyes widened at that thought—that was it! I hated Caius because he turned me. It was the only logical explanation.

I took a warning step towards Caius as my hands automatically lit up; they were fueled with my newfound rage. "How…how could you do this!?" I yelled as my voice rose an octave. "I didn't want this, and yet you went ahead and did it because you wanted it!"

"Carly, this is not the time to be making accusations," Caius said, his voice for the first time sounding genuinely scared.

"This is not the time?" I seethed quietly before I exploded like a firecracker. "This is not the time?! Look at me! This is exactly the time for me to accuse you! You turned me against my own will; all I wanted to do was lead a normal human life. Was that too much to ask?" I ranted quickly, barely understanding my own words as I let anger turn me in every direction.

I took another step forward, nearly wanting to cry. If I wanted to see David again, it would be years before I found enough self-control to stand face to face with him. That was enough for him to give up hope and assume me legally dead.

"Why aren't you answering me?" I snarled as Caius looked at Jane for help. "I'll kill you too if you help him," I added, flickering my eyes back and forth. Jane seemed to think about my words before taking a step back as she decided not to risk it. "Answer my question!" I screamed, biting my lip to keep back another growl. "Was that too much to ask?!"

"The only other option was to kill you, and I wasn't going let such a talent as yours go to waste like that," Caius explained, calming his voice down. "And as I properly remember, you are supposed to follow my orders. Is that correct?"

I frowned again as I listened to his words. My purpose was to follow Caius's orders, yet I hated him so much. These two things weren't supposed to belong together. Each was too strong to be coexisting. But I was supposed to listen to Caius. He was my leader and I wasn't to question his intentions.

But on the other fiery hand, I couldn't shake off this anger. It told me that if I didn't kill him soon, I would never find peace. It was the only way to carry out my revenge for turning me. Still, I couldn't kill my leader. If I did, what else would I have to do? There would be nothing without guided instruction.

My head was spinning as I argued with myself inside my head. It was starting to hurt. Each side was arguing their point and it made it hard for me to decide. My head throbbed as I dropped down to my knees, holding my head with cooled hands. I let out a piercing shriek as my thoughts flew at each other, but it didn't work. Didn't work... I couldn't function like this; it was too much contention, not with someone else, but with myself.

"Thank you Jane," Caius said, breathing out relief as he stared at my body curled up on the floor. He relaxed as he came closer to me. I wasn't much of a threat on the ground.

"I didn't do anything," Jane admitted calmly as I let out another confused cry. "It must be all in her own head."

"Jane, go fetched Chelsea. It seems we need to make her bonds stronger," Caius ordered as I let out quick panicked breaths.

Hey guys! This is my first author's note. I want to thank Citycat for allowing me to include Patches in this story and also for being my Beta. I'm also wondering what you guys think about this story and what you think will happen next? So please leave a review to help me go along. :)

-Caliwali6