DPOV
I knew the change hurt, I had been there before. I expected Isabella to scream, everyone does. I didn't, however, expect the ear shattering one that she let out three minutes in. That shriek hurt my ears to the point I actually lost my vision for a moment as I whirled away from her, covering my abused ear with one hand, a growl sounding from my throat.
"Fuck me." I grunted as I glared over my shoulder at the changing human. "And now, we are even. Ow."
Rubbing my ear that was going to ring for a week, I watched as she arched up, yet curled into a ball at the same time. My brow cocked and the corner of my lip curled. "Well, that's different." Narrowing my eyes, I walked back to the altar, standing at Isabella's head. I took a moment to gently remove her fingers from her hair before she ripped it out and instead gave her my hands, lacing my fingers with hers. My skin gave no give, which gave her something to squeeze and make her think that she was doing something to ease the pain.
When I bit her, I took so much of her blood that when I injected my venom, there was more of one than the other. There was so much more venom than blood currently running through her veins that I wasn't even surprised that it had already reached her brain. It wouldn't speed up the process and anyone that thought otherwise was an idiot. There was nothing that was going to make this go faster. No matter how much venom is used, it still had the same amount of jobs to do. No, the point of overflowing her blood was for scent purposes. The more blood you have, the more you retain your human scent. Unless you were right upon her, all you were going to smell was me.
I winced with a growl when she screamed again, but I didn't move away. There was something wrong and I wasn't moving until I figured out what it was. Another two minutes and she started to sweat. I was also prepared for the banshee mating calls so they didn't blind me again. However, it was then that the reason for the overload of pain on her part became apparent.
I smelled it before I saw it. There was a metallic tint to the air that really had no place in the area. I sniffed at the air a couple of times before I glanced back at Isabella, brow cocked at what I saw. The sweat that beaded her brow wasn't clear. I clicked my tongue and cocked my head. "Now, that's interesting."
She had a metal plate in her skull. Oh, Christ. A stab of sympathy shot down my spine as another scream ripped from her lips as the venom continued to melt and remove the unneeded foreign debris from her body. The liquid metal continued to bubble out of the pores on her forehead at her hairline, beading like thick sweat until it gained the weight needed to slide down her temples, the heat of it leaving angry red lines in its wake. The scent of the fine hairs on her skin as they burned away made my stomach roll slightly, but it was like a train wreck. You couldn't look away if you wanted to.
I hummed in my throat when I moved my eyes from the drops of melted metal as it sizzled on the concrete next to her face. "So much about you now makes sense. Why Master Aro couldn't read you. Why Jane couldn't burn you." I snorted softly with a quiet chuckle. "Why you seemed a blank slate." Pulling one hand free, I followed her hairline with the tip of a finger. "You were hiding, and didn't even know it."
When I removed my finger from her skin, her eyes opened, bloodshot and full of pain. The moment they locked on mine, I felt the same spark in the base of my skull I always do when making eye contact with someone new. Ghostly fingertips tapped at my brain as they always did, hitting the same points from stem to eyes. When I was younger, that shit used to hurt something fierce. Now, it just kinda tickled. I closed my eyes as the feeling receded, locking them back on hers with a smirk when I opened them again. "There you are. Any chance you might have had before, is gone now. You'll never be able to hide again." I lowered my head, putting my lips next to her ear, "I will always find you."
Pulling back, I looked into her eyes, seeing a wide range of emotions flooding her tear filled orbs. She was torn between wanting to tell me to fuck off and begging me to make this end. Sadly for her, neither one was going to happen.
My eyes softened again as I clicked my tongue. "Now, don't look at me like that, Gatáki. This was what this was going to feel like regardless of who did the biting. Besides, the fun hasn't even started yet. Well, fun for me, not so much for you. I am going to let you in on a little secret." I pulled my hands free of hers and folded one above her head, leaning on the elbow on the other and set my chin on the back of my fingers. "Before, when I said you would only remember two things, that you wouldn't remember even being human; you recall that, yes?"
She just kept staring at me, so I just kept talking. "It's because, over the next seventy one hours and fifty minutes, I am going to override your entire memory, erase it from your reach." Her eyes filled with disbelief, the tears that had threatened to fall finally breaking free. Moving the hand I was leaning on, I wiped one away, humming with a small smirk. "No matter how much you don't want to believe it, no matter how you try and fight it, there is nothing you can do about it. There is no stopping it. I will not have my mate thinking such nonsense as eating animals and compassion for our natural food source. No, my mate will know not only a vampire's true place, but hers as well."
BPOV
Mate; his mate. I knew what he meant when he told me I was his, but some part of me refused to believe it. How could I be his mate when I was Edward's? How could I have any feelings for anyone like him? I have seen the love and passion between mated vampires. I have seen how much they care about each other. How could there ever be a possibility before hell froze over that I would have that with a monster like him?
Was this another thing that was different between animal drinkers and human drinkers? Or was this a difference between the Cullens and the Volturi. I knew that James and Victoria were mates and they didn't seem to be all lovey dovey either.
I continued to stare into Demetri's eyes, my body spazzing as I gagged and choked on my breath. They were soft and held different emotions that I hadn't seen a lot of since I was taken from Forks yesterday. His words were cruel but his voice was gentle, a soothing tenor that lulled me into a sense of calm that was different than when Edward did something like it. It didn't feel like I was bending to his will against my own. It didn't feel as though I was sinking into a fog and drowning in his eyes. Good, bad or annoying, it was different.
I closed my eyes to block out the sight, but it did nothing to block out the image.
He stayed silent for a time, though how much I was uncertain. It might have just seemed like he left me alone to burn in agony. I'll never know. When he did start talking again, his voice was a light whisper in my ear, his breath sending a cooling wind against my neck with every word spoken. There was no undertone of amusement that was there most of the time he talked to me today. There was no harsh or mean dialogue that made my heart clench in pain or condescending note that made me question my own thoughts. There was no jab at my choice of running with vampires. There was just a soothing voice that whispered words of the past, bringing the visuals with them as memories were described and relived in my mind.
At first they were only a little different than what I remembered them being, little details that differed from what I recalled. It didn't seem too big of a deal. Everyone remembers things differently and when comparing a human's memory to a vampire's, I took his word for it.
The first to be described was my first time here, our first meeting in the alley after I saved Edward. Then the Throne Room where Felix beat the fuck out of Edward. After that was the clearing in Forks after the fight with the newborns. Then the plane. I figured after that he would go on to the car ride and the fight in the hall, but he didn't. He started over back in the alley.
Over and over these memories were retold and every time something small changed. But it wasn't the memories I had that played, it was what he was describing. I don't know how many times he repeated these times, but after a while, I wasn't sure what was real and what was not. Still, he continued to focus on those specific memories. So many times I relived those moments that after a while, I gave up trying to remember the real and gave into the words that caressed and seeped into my mind.
Still he chose to only describe those. I could no longer recall what really happened. I couldn't even find it in me to care to do so. More details were added, a clear picture of the happenings laid out before my mind's eye. Once again he started over, those four encounters told to me in a way, in a voice of such conviction that it was the only thing that mattered. I submerged myself in the voice, taking it in and living what it said. The scenes were perfect, missing nothing of importance or care.
The only thing that mattered was Demetri was there.
Once more the cycle started over and I heard myself whimper loud and clear when the scene was different than before. He wasn't there. He was gone. The feeling of loss and heartbreak over his absence near crippling. This wasn't right. My eyes searched the memory as it played again and he was gone, just vanished into thin air and replaced with someone that wasn't even a considerable substitute. He was too short and his eyes were wrong. This was wrong. That wasn't Demetri and I didn't like it.
All four were the same. Demetri was replaced with the imposter and every second that passed I felt myself sink into a pit of despair. Hearing Gatáki falling from the lips of anyone else slashed at me, leaving deep scars and bleeding wounds. This guy, whoever it was, would never be him, would never take his place.
The fire that I had felt before, that had died out to the sound of the voice was back, tenfold worse than it was. It consumed my every molecule, my every cell feeling the burn of loss and desperation for reality; for Demetri. My soul cried out for a reprieve of this lie, for the truth to be back and set me free of this cage of all consuming anguish.
I was left alone then. Left to live this horror as many times as my mind could torture me with. Ten times I saw it and every time was worse than the last. It was the most painful thing that I have ever been forced to do. I didn't know who to beg to make it quit, what God or deity I pissed off so much that I deserved to be put through this but I would beg on hands and knees for eternity for it to end. I was screaming, crying and begging for this lie to be stopped, for reality to win and return. I wanted, needed it to happen before I lost all hope of ever being sane again.
A cool burn ignited on my cheek and my eyes flew open at the contact. They darted every which way, looking for the reason and I have never felt relief like I did in that moment before in my life. He was blurry and distorted, but I would know those eyes anywhere. He didn't leave, he was still here. The haunting torture of my mind was nothing but lies to drive me mad. Orbs of liquid crimson gazed back at me, filling me with the knowledge that Demetri was with me at this moment and that was all that mattered. The lies my mind created were just that; lies. He wasn't gone, didn't vanish. He wasn't replaced with a piss poor substitute that meant nothing.
I turned to lean harder against his palm as his thumb lightly ran my cheek bone, letting out a sigh of relief and let my eyes reclose. I relaxed as much as I could, safe in the knowledge that Demetri was there with me and that he would never allow whoever that was to take his place.
It was like my mind needed the assurance that he was real. When again I ran my memories through my mind, they were back as they should be. There was no coppered hair imposter. There was no odd colored eyes looking at me with emotions that has no business there. I was once again in the arms of the one I wanted to be wrapped in. It was perfect.
As I was once again submerged in my mind, the soothing voice started up again. Only this time, it told the fucking truth. It also didn't end where it normally did and repeat the same things as it did before. It continued and told me of protection from others, things that I needed no help in recalling. The details as it described the fight and complete ass kicking Demetri gave those three vampires were spot on, right down to the last gory one. I relived it in the same morbid fascination as I had the first time.
The only difference was this time there were a few things that I missed because they moved too fast for me to see. It didn't matter. It only added to the scene and convinced me even more that Demetri would always protect me from anyone. He got hurt in the short scuffle, a deep bite to the arm that would forever scar him with a permanent visual reminder to me that he would sooner get hurt himself than allow it to happen to me.
Only once more did the voice run my memories with me again before it vanished to the wayside of my thoughts. Didn't matter, I didn't need it to remind me of my past. I knew what happened in my life and I didn't need my inner voice to tell me. On my own, I ran the gauntlet of my memories, seeing every detail that occurred and the way Demetri was always there to protect me, to save me from those that wished me harm. Over and over I saw his blunt and direct way of dealing with others and the caring way he dealt with me.
It was during a replay of the fight that the burning once again reared up and called my every attention to it. My heart kicked up and began to hammer against my ribs, the speed and force making my breath catch and clog my throat. My eyes flew open and my mouth fell open in a silent scream that I couldn't push past the lump that formed. My back arched and I came face to face with Demetri once again as he stood right by my head, leaning down and butting his nose to mine.
He had a hand on either side of my head to prop himself up when he pulled back. His lips moved but I couldn't hear the words he said as a roar of white noise once again erupted in my ears. I didn't need to hear him though to know he was saying words of comfort and apology over this. You could see in his eyes that he wished it didn't have to happen. It seemed wrong to me to see such things from him. I wanted to tell him not to look like that but I couldn't get the words out as I once again had a ripple of fire pulse from my heart. It was so hot and so painful that my vision went dark.
DPOV
Humans and their exponentially feeble minds will never cease to amuse me. You could literally get them to believe anything if you repeat yourself enough. You could also change what they think they know with very little effort on your part. I knew I had succeeded in changing her memories when she whined like a wounded puppy, and that only took me two hours.
It really is all about timing. When you are half insane from pain you will latch onto anything to try and counteract it. I started my little walk down memory lane on the second day of her change but I knew she had no idea that it was so long into the torture she had gone through.
Now she was in her final moments, minutes till she woke up, and all she knows is what I wanted her to. She might have retained one or two others, but not a single one would paint whoever was in it in a very good light. However, regardless of the success, I had zero intentions of pushing her. For the moment, this was a very delicate situation and would remain one for about a week. During that time, her mind was going to be very scattered and very susceptible to influence. Newborn vampires are a lot like newborn humans in that way. They only know what you teach them and you had a very small window to cement things in a baby vampire's mind.
The next seven days were going to be very important. Everything that I did during her change could very well be undone if someone got it in their heads to do so. However, be that as it may, I have never lied to her. What I did was change her memories to what they should have always been and I didn't do it just because I could like others would have. I did it because it was necessary to undo the damage done to her by the Cullens. I meant what I said about my mate not thinking eating animals was in any way acceptable.
Yes, MY mate. She was never Cullen's to begin with and what was more was he knew it. If not before his ill-fated death plan, certainly before he left with her that day. We know our mates when we see them, and we know it by scent. There is no magical connection when our eyes meet across the room. There is no instant love that ignites in our guts and makes our heart nearly begin to beat again. That little fucker is deader than a doornail when we wake up. There is no bringing life back into it. There is no feeling of being alive that comes with finding our mates either. It is just what it is. It is a change to our makeup, sure, but not in the way soft and squishy humans like to think. What it does, is wake a dormant demon that will stop at nothing to have what it sees as their possession. And this little female belongs to mine.
It also wouldn't have mattered had Cullen followed the ruling and changed her as he was told to. She still would have belonged to me. That was the only reason she was allowed to leave. I felt she had a right to have her final good-byes to her human life and decided to grant that. Otherwise, she never would have left Volterra four months ago.
What none of them knew was that we knew about Isabella before we ever even saw her. The red headed vampire in mourning came to us first and was turned down when she requested aid in dealing with the coven that killed her male and coven leader. When she revealed they had a human living with them, Master Aro was a little more interested in her pleas, though still not enough to get involved over a dispute that had nothing to do with us. He did hear her out, however, and he wasn't overly happy about finding out the Cullen Coven had, once again, lost their fucking minds.
Isabella was not the first human to find out about us because of Edward Cullen, but she was damn sure going to be the last.