Anna's POV
Those eyes. Those almond crimson eyes, watching me with merry glee, Val is suddenly at the head of our group, pulling us forward. I hear Alec growl at the sight of an unfamiliar vampire.
We run until my legs feel numb against the ground, and then Val stops, smiles, looks at us both. We're surrounded by trees, deep and dark and festering with damp air.
Alec yanks me away from her. "Who are you?" his eyes keep flickering around.
Mom. Dad. I feel sick.
"My name is Valentine." She gives a mock bow. "I think you've met my brother..."
"Valentine?" Alec's voice sneers at her, Volturi grace straightening his back, and he suddenly seems so much taller. "I have never heard of you."
Her lip curls in response. She looks like she's allergic to him. "My brother is Victor of Sailles."
There's a pause.
"He's dead." Alec's voice is crisp. "He threatened to expose our race and was eliminated seven years ago."
"Who told you that?" Val's eyes glisten with mirth. "What about you?" she laughs at me. "Do you think he's dead?" Her eyes sparkle.
I keep seeing the way mom was broken across the kitchen floor.
Can I risk using my power? I step forward, but Alec suddenly has an arm around my waist, anchoring me back.
"Take us to him."
"Alec—"
"If they can elude the Volturi, they can show us how to as well," he mutters it into my ear, soft.
It's...true. The more rational side of me accepts it, but then I smell something. Something delicious. That beautiful scent of human blood wafting in the breeze. Val's eyes slit, watching me. "Still a newborn, isn't she?"
I have to consume that blood. The burn in my throat suddenly erupts into a searing pain, mind-numbing, and I have to push Alec away, run into the wind, almost crying for the release of just one taste.
"ANNA."
Something pulls me up.
"ANNA!"
Blood runs down my throat and I swallow, lapping it up, teeth finding the throat it comes from and gulping shuddering, blissful mouthfuls.
"I did mention I never travel without my brother, didn't I?" Val's voice drifts into my ears, and I look up to see Victor, his hands holding up the body that I just drained, one of his eyes red and the other darkening to black.