Hiya, another chapter, sorry it took so long... Alec finally makes his debut! I hope you like, review! I don't own Twilight, I just like writing in it.
Enjoy, bella gente!
Trudy slams my head against the stone and I hear a sickening thwack. For once, I'm grateful to be a vampire. Holy crap, my skull hurts... She drags me along the corridor by the scruff of my neck as I stumble and shuffle along. Why am I clumsy? Jane and Trudy aren't, why am I-
Trudy throws me onto a marble floor and I land in an unattractive heap.
"What is this, Jane?" a voice asks, contemptuous and arrogant. I can see, out of the corner of my eye, Trudy flinching with annoyance. She doesn't like the idea of Jane getting any credit. I swallow hard and look around the hall I'm in. I was right about the marble floor. There's a raised dais in front of me, with three thrones on it. One is empty, the one in the middle. The one on the right has a tired, bored looking dude- maybe in his late thirties? Behind him stands a boy around my age -it's impossible to be really sure of his age, though- with dark, short hair and a matching bored expression. On the left throne is the contemptuous vampire. He's blonde, and maybe in his late twenties.
"Master, this rogue threatened the secrecy," Jane answers obediently, with blade precision on every word.
Enough! "I did not, you blind bats! Honest to god, you've made a mistake, I'm not-"
Jane does the excruciating-pain-thingy on me. 'Master' chuckles.
"She shall receive the death sentence," he says casually.
I stare at him. "Haven't you been listening? I-"
"Silence," the boy behind 'Master' commands. I see a whispery, white ghost-like thing come towards me, before it moves towards my face, into my open mouth and my voice stops working. Is this Alec, then? Crap. Crap, crap, crap! I'm so dead...
A vampire I hadn't noticed steps out of the shadows.
"Felix," Jane says, looking at me. Felix gives me a sick, twisted grin and stands in front of me. He punches out, before I can blink, and I feel myself sailing in an arc through the air. He slams my body down on the marble, and then everything slows down.
He's going to kill me. I shall die today. There is a pause just before Felix's hands tear me apart, and in that pause-
A note. A musical note, only one. High-pitched, wavering. Not strong-sounding in the least, to my ears. But maybe my ears aren't working properly, because Felix throws himself off me, howling with his hands on his head. I hear someone else screaming, too. Trudy. Then Jane blinds me with pain and the note dies. I'm lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, writhing in agony. After a little bit it stops.
"You never mentioned a talent in the newborn," Jane says frostily to Trudy, who whimpers.
The newborn? Me? I get up gingerly, and am surprised when no one pushes me back down. Huh. I stumble slightly, and see everyone in the room giving me a look.
"My name is Anna Riddle," I say, biting my lip. I survey the frozen vampires. "What's going on?"
"We might ask you the same," the previously bored looking vampire says scratchily.
I blink. "Um, two vampires, they turned me, and they killed my parents, so-"
"Dreadful," someone proclaims behind me. "The lack of posts we have in that area..."
I whirl around to see a man with long, dark hair looking at me with mild interest. "Was this the musician I happened to hear?" he asks 'Master' (the blonde eejit). Blondy nods shortly.
"Indeed, Aro," he confirms. Aro? The one Trudy said wouldn't be around?
"Where is your instrument?" Aro asks me pleasantly. I blink.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I state.
"You made music," he smiles, predatory. Everyone else in the room goes still. "Did you make it just out of thin air?"
My fast-beating imaginary heart (mine doesn't do much nowadays), frantic with fear, beats out a drumroll. Aro tilts his head. Can he hear it? Thump thump thump thump thumpthump... Aro gives me a white, white smile.
"Give me your hand, child," he says, sounding cheerful. Predatory.
"NO!" Trudy yells suddenly. Without blinking Aro has taken her hand and is slapping her, so that her body falls back on the floor helplessly.
"You thought you could rise in the Volturi ranks through such an act of treachery?" he asks softly. I turn to run, while they're distracted. I need to get away. From these crazy people.
"Alec," Aro says as I turn. In a second Alec is pinning my arms to my sides.
"Just keep quiet," he mutters into my ear, pulling me closer.
"While I admire your spontaneousness," Aro said silkily, "To believe you could lie..." He throws Trudy across the room. I suddenly see why he's the king of the vampires. Every move he makes is killing Trudy, is saturated with vengeance, and his voice is dark and cruel. But his face is relaxed, pleasant even. He scares the life -oh, the irony- out of me. And this Alec dude? He's still not letting me speak, and I think he's cut off my control over my legs and arms.
"Ah, but you thought you could get away with it?" Aro continues, smiling. He kicks Trudy's chin and there is a crunch as something in her face crumbles. "Aro is away, you thought? Taking care of the Cullens? What a perfect opportunity to rise in the ranks... And of course I would be pleased, is that what you thought? That I would be impressed with your initiative?" He takes her face in his hands. I see Trudy's eyes widen with fear, and shock.
Aro rips her head off her shoulders and throws her carcass across the room.
"Loyalty is everything to me," he proclaims to everyone in the room. "And lies...are expensive." He rounds on me and through some unspoken command, Alec the Specialized Sandman lets me go, fully operational. I gulp as Aro circles me.
This sort of thing doesn't happen in human courts. The judge never kills the person on trial, never gets off the raised platform. But in vampire world, it seems justice is dispenced as is seen fit.
Now does that mean I'm dead, or not?
Aro stops behind me, but I'm damned if I'm going to turn around. I won't turn around for the likes of him. The realization that I have absolutely no control over the situation I'm in hits me like a rock.
A note rings in the air. It's not like the one earlier, which was tremulous and scared and hoping that it would be okay. Dammit! If I'm going to die, I deserve to go out screaming. Yes. This note is strong, and angry, and from the way everyone is trying not to flinch, it's loud too. Let them hear it. Let them try to fight their own senses.
I will not go down without a fight.
And that's when Alec cuts of my ability. He's flinching slightly, clutching the side of his head. I can still feel the vibrations of the note deep in the marble floor.
"Stupefacente," Aro breathes. I turn around, jaw clenched.
"If you're going to kill me you might as well give it a shot now," I say bluntly.
To my surprise Aro chuckles and shakes his head. Suddenly, he doesn't look like a scary, crazy murderer. He looks like a distant, kindly uncle who is slightly senile, but means well all the same. I blink. This man deserves an Oscar.
"I don't wish to kill you, amante della musica," Aro says, sounding shocked at the idea. I see Alec go back to standing behind Marcus, and Jane stand a couple of feet behind Aro. The look on her face shocks me. Before, she was all ice and frost and...slushies. Now? She's looking at Aro like a lovesick puppy.
Oh, come on. She's like, sixteen? And he's definatley older than that by quite a few years.
"Then...you're going to torture me, aren't you?" I say, resigned. I'll die like Mom and Dad. I guess it was an okay life, up until a couple of days ago. Funny how so much can change...
I stumble slightly, and every single vampire in the room looks at me as if I've grown three heads out of my armpits. I am clumsy. Get used to it, vampires.
"I do not wish to harm you, my dear," Aro chuckles, as if the very though is ridiculous. I hope he knows he's only fooling himself. "I wish to ask you if you would join us."
"Join...er, what?" Wow, I'm making a really intelligent impression.
"My guard," Aro says lightly. "Would you be part of the Volturi? A skill such as yours..."
My music is a skill? Come to think of it, I heard a lot of music on and off after I was turned... They're waiting for an answer. Crap, Anna. Use your damn brain.
"Can I think about it?" Screw my damn brain. It needs food.
Aro smiles angelically. I see Felix pick up Trudy's corpse and take it out of sight. "Of course," he purrs, like someone who knows he's won. "Alec," he says, without taking his eyes off me.
"Master?" Alec says indifferently, appearing at his side.
"Take the lovely Anna to her room," Aro commands. Alec takes my elbow.
"Yes, master."
He tugs me out of the chamber and I hear Aro barking out instructions. I look at Alec apprehensively. He is extremely hot. Even features, a mouth that seems to have a smirk as an auto-pilot, with the same bright red eyes that I have, red with blood.
Blood.
I can smell it, can't I? That lovely warm smell, all sorts of flavours, full of life... I refuse to be towed along. Alec sees my face and shakes his head. I hate myself slightly for not being able to look away from his face.
"I will bring food to your room. The humans in the building at in the moment are under protection, understood?" he says imperiously. He re-grabs my elbow and continues steering me through the labyrinth of corridors.
"So how come your sister is so in love Aro?" I ask. He stops, shocked, and somehow I wind up losing my balance and falling onto the floor, butt first.
"You know?" he asks me. He moves closer, his body over mine slightly. I can smell his skin, like timber and smoke. His hands go on either side of my hips as he leans over me. His face is too close. He is too close. Too handsome, too close. I avoid the intense stare in his eyes, which seems so vulnerable and unprotected.
"It's kind of obvious," I mutter. I'm hungry. Thats why I'm not functioning properly. It has nothing to do with him.
"It is," he agrees. Sarcastically..? I see his ironic smirk and feel a flash of indignation. He's doing this on purpose! He knows exactly the effect that perfect face and body has...
I feel my anger turn into a music I didn't know was possible. It flings Alec off his feet, so that his back slams against the wall. I walk towards him, angry and hungry and ever so slightly humiliated. Jerk. Jerk, jerk, bastard, son of a bitch... I get distracted by all the names I can think of that apply to him.
He cuts my power off in my moment of weakness. He cuts my body off, too, so I can't control my body as it freezes, unable to process instructions from my brain. He stalks over to me, and tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. I can't fight him off. I feel so naked. Alec smiles, in a sort of self-satisfied way, before bending down slightly and kissing my neck lightly. His lips feel cold, and it's obvious why he chose my neck over my cheek or mouth. He's telling me how easy it would be for him to tear out my throat. The small touch sends shivers through my system. He sees them and smiles again, in that all-important, smug way.
"You'll be such a fun toy," Alec tells me gleefully.
Then I'm unconscious. Shouldn't have been so stupid to think I could get the best of a member of Aro's guard when I have absolutely no training whatsoever. What a jerk.
I'm hungry.
Sorry if the Italian is incorrect, but I don't know how to speak it and no one I know is fluent, either- um, so please don't kill me with sticks. Thanks for reading!
d^_-^b