Hey Guys!! I'm getting a bit sad… there's not much left, only a little bit of chapters to go! But oh well, it's been one epic journey so far :) I'm so ecstatic about the reviews I'm getting! Anyway, thanks for all the support, you guys have been a heck of fans. Cyber hugs and kisses. Cheers!!
Alena POV
We walked outside, the melting snow crunching under our feet. I was extremely determined. If Bella could do it, so could I. And the faster I did it, the faster I could help Demetri and obliterate the Romanians once and for all. We quickly made it to the field where we had trained last time, the baseball field. This time I was getting excited! I could join in instead of being a helpless bystander. Everyone had followed eagerly after Aro, Edward and I to the field. Soon, I stopped walking in the middle of the field so that Aro could walk a little further and then turn around to face me. Edward followed pursuit of him.
"Are you ready?" Aro asked… his face tilted up a little in anticipation.
I breathed out, my cold breath making no fog in the cool air whatsoever.
"Yes."
Edward smiled encouragingly and nodded.
Aro grinned, "Alright, we'll first test how far you can hear."
I frowned, "Far?"
He nodded, "I can only hear by touch, Edward can hear from a few miles off. Now, we need to assess you."
He looked at Edward who then ran off, out of sight.
"Can you hear him?" Aro asked.
I concentrated on listening to Edward.
I nodded.
Aro grinned, "Tell him to go further would you?"
I nodded and concentrated on talking to Edward deep within my mind.
Go a bit further Eddie.
I hear him growl back through his mind.
Alright. Oh, and don't you ever call me Eddie again.
I laughed out loud, receiving strange looks from my peers.
"Uh, nothing." I muttered.
Aro looked on with anticipation, "Ask him how far away he is."
I nodded.
How far are you?
Uh, quite a few meter, possible two miles.
"Two miles, approximately." I reported to Aro.
He encouraged me to go on.
"Uh, still clear as a bell." I smiled.
Aro nodded, "Alright. That's enough, call him back."
I nodded, again.
Come back Edward.
In the next seconds Edward was back, next to Aro.
Edward grinned, "That was good."
I grinned back, "Thanks… Eddie."
He evil eyed me as I received snickers off Emmett and Jasper. I smiled back.
Aro rolled his eyes, "Now, now… children. May we start?"
Edward hung his head and nodded, "I'm sorry Aro. Go on."
Aro nodded, "You seemed to have picked up hearing others thoughts and placing yours in theirs very well and fast. Now, we'll try mind control."
I gulped but nodded. This is why I was here, to help control and access every inch of my power.
Aro smiled, "Don't fear, but I want you to pick one person, any person and tell them in your mind what you want them to do."
I nodded and took a deep breath but Aro interrupted me before I could try.
"Now, I don't want you to strain yourself, this is very tricky work. So all you have to do is put your thoughts in that person. Don't try to force them to your will."
I took another deep breath and obliged, following his teaching as much as I could.
"Just relax." Edward called out.
I looked at Rosalie. She frowned at me. I held back a snicker as I read her mind.
Oh god. Please don't make me do anything embarrassing.
I grinned evilly at her, receiving a lovely death glare in return. Please note the sarcasm. Oh it was lovely, just lovely.
Go and hug Caius. I said in my mind, traces of humor in it.
The look on her face told me she'd heard what I said.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" She yelled.
I shrugged, "How would I know if my mind control really worked unless I made you do something you didn't want to do. Because I don't really think this is something you'd do of free will."
She rolled her eyes, "I don't think I like this activity any more."
I grinned, "You'll live."
Aro looked quizzically between us but soon shook it off. Walking over to me, he leaned down, being quiet tall, and whispered in my ear, making sure she could hear.
"Well, I'm going it assume that just telling her worked. But now, this time, I want you to do again, but try and modify your voice and tone. Make it her tone and voice, make it persuasive. Put your thoughts in her mind, in her voice. Make her think that she wants to do it."
I nodded, looking up at him.
"I'll try."
He touched my hand and laughed, "Oh, I think we'll know if it works."
I grinned mischievously back, "We'll see."
This time, when directing my telepathic thoughts into Rosalie's mind, I tried to modify it to her voice. By the annoyed yet slightly nervous look in her mind, I could tell it wasn't working. Yet…
Aro looked quite pleased, his hand still on mine.
I had gotten it to her voice, but now, I needed to make it more persuasive.
"Rosalie, try and resist the voice. That way, Alena can really learn how to do this. So that she can possibly turn the enemy on themselves…"
I think it was the first time I'd seen Rosalie smile at Aro, "With pleasure." She purred.
This time, I concentrating on not only making the command sound like her voice, I put a persuasive tone on it.
More honey to the voice, I told myself, makes it smoother.
I almost made the 'Rosalie' voice a purr, it was so low, so quiet, so smooth and so rich I was beginning to doubt whether I had a mind controlling power or not.
Then.
She started to move.
An almost glazed looked came upon her, her shoulders pushed back and then she stood straighter, sort of looking like a soldier ready for command. This was, in fact, what she was precisely for… well, for this exercise anyway.
Her feet started to move soundless and effortlessly along the smooth and soft snow. Small grains of it crunched under her feet as she moved. She began to draw nearer and nearer to Caius and I concentrated harder on making her move faster, but then, my voice seemed a little too harsh in her mind and she stopped, shaking her head.
She looked wildly around.
"I don't remember moving…" She spoke, her voice almost in a daze.
I frowned profusely, "It didn't work. I failed." I grumbled.
Aro placed a comforting arm around my shoulder, "No, no dear child. You didn't fail! Not at all! You are excelling quite fast in fact. You have a lot of concentration and that is exactly what you need for this. It's is much harder than it looks. It is quite amazing you have gone this far to even making her make a move. You are absolutely brilliant."
A smile cracked through my lips, "Thank you Aro."
He sighed, "Ah, let's try your fighting skills for now. You need to learn from the very beginning."
I sighed and nodded.
"Felix." Aro motioned.
My eyes widened and I shook my head.
"What?! No! Not Felix!!!" I gasped, truly afraid. His rolls of muscles looked absolutely terrifying!
Felix grinned at me and cracked his knuckles to advance on the effect he was having on me.
"Why Felix?" I whimpered.
Aro grinned, "You do forget you're a newborn. You are actually stronger than him at this moment."
That didn't make me feel any better!
Jasper, can you come too? I asked in his mind.
Jasper smiled and nodded, coming to my side in the next second.
"Jasper?" Aro asked, looking at me.
I shrugged, "Just for… insurance."
A chorus of laughter echoed around the entire field. Felix grinned and nodded.
"Ready?"
I gulped and looked at Jasper who nodded, "Just let you senses take over. It's easier than it seems." He murmured.
I breathed out a huge sigh and nodded to Felix.
"Please don't hurt me." I whimpered.
Felix put his hands up in a surrender position, though that clearly wasn't his intention as clearly seen through his tense position. He was ready to jump, ready to strike, ready to attack.
"It's okay. Just let your vampire senses take over. It's easy."
I huffed out a frustrated sigh, "Everyone keeps saying that! It's not exactly easy!" I moaned, my tone growing louder in aggravation.
Another chorus of laughter echoed throughout the field. But this time, it just resulted in me getting a little madder. I even let out a snarl, but it surprised me to be met by praise.
"That's it Alena, let your senses just take over." Jasper appraised.
I sighed and started to focus on the foreseeable fight.
Felix started to nimbly dance forward. I circled back, making sure that he didn't get a clear path to behind me. I couldn't let him catch me by surprise. He crouched lower and started to move a bit more slowly, like a cobra waiting to strike. I closed my eyes for a split second, letting my senses come through. I even let a growl rip through my throat.
"That's it Alena." Felix cheered lowly from his position that was ready to attack.
I grinned and moved closer and let my feet drag me closer to the attacker.
Hey, they were actually right, it wasn't so hard. It wasn't that bad. It actually felt quite… natural. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I swore a figure was standing in the far distance. Tall, with frosted brown hair. Was it Demetri? Surely not? But, could it be?
"ALENA! FOCUS!" Edward's harsh voice rang out.
I gasped and kept in focus in time to see Felix lunge forward and grip my shoulders, throw me towards the ground. In the next second, he was practically straddling me on the ground, his head lowered, ready to bite, my body flat on the floor. I quickly snuck another glance to where I thought I saw Demetri, but like last time, nothing remained. I was definitely seeing things.
"Focus." Instead, he growled sternly into my ear.
I groaned and let my head fall back and rest on the ground.
"Get. Off. Me." I hissed.
In the near distance I heard a laugh that belonged to Alec, "Yes Felix, you might want to get off. Imagine if Demetri saw the position you two were in… not good."
I looked at him and his straddling position on me. Wow, this was weird. I gave him a stern gaze only to be met by a cheeky gaze. I narrowed my eyes as I quickly read his mind, but before I could stop him, he grinned wider, leaned swiftly down and placed a kiss on my lips, instantly springing back up after less than a split second. The obnoxiously wide cheeky grin plastered on his face.
Oh, he was dead meat.
Alena, he's not paying full attention to you. Do something, now! Jasper called out to me.
It felt weird, being called out to in your mind. It was like being called out loud, except nobody else could really hear.
Still looking at me with a silly grin, I took that moment of his glee to pull my arms out from under him and pushed him slightly off me. It was enough to slide my legs under him in a fetal position and then place my feet on his chest and push him, with all my might, off.
He flew off, a few good meters away, and so conveniently, into a tree.
Oh, now I was happy.
Standing up, and childishly wiping my mouth on my sleeves, I watched him dislodge himself from the thick tree.
"Don't you ever do that again, or I'll make you jump off a cliff!" My shrill voice threatened.
Felix waved a hand and thought, 'white flag' in his mind.
I smiled in satisfaction and nodded, "You better be surrendering."
He grinned and flashed back in front of me.
"For today I am. But, you need to be more focused, what made me catch you off guard?"
I looked over to the place I thought I saw Demetri… for a double check. But there was still no one there. I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head.
"Nothing, uh, don't worry about it. You're right, I need to focus more."
Aro started to clap, "Alena, well done! That was good. But let us recess until tomorrow."
I nodded, wanting to hunt even though it hadn't even been a full day.
Edward laughed and appeared beside me, "Don't worry. When you're a newborn, you're always hungry. Why don't you go with Chloe? She hasn't hunted in a while."
I looked over at Chloe who was latched hand-in-hand with Alec.
Edward moved away and I concentrated onto calling Chloe with my mind. It got easier the more I tried to di it.
Chloe, come over here for a second.
She instantly looked over at me, detaching herself from Alec's arm and bounding over to me. She slipped her hand in mind, reminding me for a second, the good old human days.
"Hey, you did great! What's up?" Her bubbly musical voice asked.
I grinned half-heartedly back at her, "Wanna hunt?"
She rolled her eyes and grinned, "Hungry again?"
My eyes widened, "You aren't?"
She shook her head, "Of course I am! Glad you asked. But we need to take someone with us; I don't know if it's safe it let two newborns alone to hunt."
I nodded, Chloe was right. She was always right.
I stopped, "Hey, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I mean, it's not exactly something I can bring up in an everyday conversation. 'Hey, my family's a vampire, so is my boyfriend. Oh, and I'm destined to be one someday'. Yeah…no. But I heard you took it well."
She snickered, "Not that you really could bring that up in an everyday conversation, but I didn't do so well in the whole explaining thing."
I laughed, "Really?"
She cringed, "I didn't really have time to think. I fainted, um, I might have screamed not sure."
I looked at her incredulously, "You fainted?"
She huffed and groaned as Alec came over, "It was his entire fault! I was doing alright, dealing with the fact that your family was vampire. I didn't know he was one. Then he took out his contacts and showed me his red eyes and then I fainted!"
I grinned, "Wow. Nice work Alec!"
He grinned chivalrously, "No problem ladies. But I couldn't help but overhearing, you two needed someone to hunt with?"
Chloe grinned lovingly at him; it almost made me feel sick. I felt like I could literally feel the love coming off them. I wonder if Demetri and I were like that…
"You two are worse." Edward laughed from the other side of the field with Bella.
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Shut. Up."
I groaned as I heard him laugh.
--00oo00oo00--
The hours passed and training grew more intense. I still wasn't getting far though. No further than making Rosalie walked a few inches…
"Ugh! It's not working!" I complained, taking to the snowy floor of the field.
Aro shook his head, "No! You're doing so well."
I raised an eyebrow, "I can make Rosalie walk ten steps. Oh wow."
Aro sighed, "Alright, let's work on your fighting skills."
I groaned as I thought of Felix flipping me again… I wasn't a fan of that.
My patience snapped as I heard a loud guffaw from Felix.
OH, GO! PUNCH ALEC OR SOMETHING I yelled at him with my mind, anger clouding every word.
Unthinkingly, I also switched my voice to his, adding smoothness and honey into it.
Then, before I knew it Felix was in front of and pulling his arm back. WHACK! A deafening sound of boulder hitting boulder sounded. In this case, fist hitting face.
The glazed look was wiped off Felix's face and his expression turned horror struck. Alec let out a yell of surprise and then tackled the shocked Felix onto the ground. Pretty soon, both vampires were in a full frontal attack, throwing hits here and there. Grunts sounded loudly with the occasional shriek from Chloe.
"Stop it! Come on you guys! Stop it!" Chloe was trying to stop them but was too scared to actually touch them.
I, on the other hand was too shocked to do anything. It worked! I was mad when it happened, but it worked!
"If it so brilliantly worked, do something to make them stop!" Edward hissed in a reprimanding tone.
"Oh. Right…" I cringed meekly and concentrated.
I tried Alec first since he was the first one to tackle Felix; Felix was up to the point of just defending himself not attacking.
Alec, stop. Now!
Alec faltered in his strike but then shook his head and punched Felix's face.
Alena, try and channel the force you used when you were angry to now. I heard Edward's voice in my mind.
I nodded and concentrated, closing my eyes tight.
Alec. Stop. Now!
I put as much force into my words while trying to make it his voice and smooth at the same time. I felt like I was going to collapse, it was so much work.
I opened my eyes, feeling like I was going to collapse any second. My stance wavered for a few seconds; I watched in amazement as Alec stopped mid strike and pulled away from the fight, a confused expression alight on his face.
I took an unnecessary gasp, as though drawing more energy from around me, not that it was the case.
Felix. It's okay. Stop fighting.
Felix shook his head and jumped up from the floor looking bewildered.
"What the hell?" He burst out at me, making me cringe.
The exercise I did was so exhausting, I wasn't standing up straight, oh god, I didn't feel good.
"Whoa…" I muttered into the air, my legs collapsing.
I felt someone behind me, catching me as I went to meet the ground. I looked up seeing the concerned face of Aro. His hand was on the small of my back. He up righted me and then placed his hand on mine, reading my experience.
"Oh, my… this is… exciting!"
I gulped, "Exciting?"
He nodded very enthusiastically, "Yes, you seem to need to have a lot of force to make this thing work. You have excelled very quickly, channeling the force you put in your anger to your normality."
I shook my head, "What? Why do I feel so weak?"
He smiled, "It's not actually physical weakness. You feel so week because your mental stability isn't so strong yet. Not that I'd blame you, you only found out about this two days ago. You haven't been using your mental state for long enough."
I raised an eyebrow, "So my mental state isn't strong enough?"
He sighed, "Not yet. But maybe we can get it to the state, the level, the stability it needs to be so this consequence doesn't happen."
"How…?"
He looked around at everyone, "Well, you're going to have to train for the last day we have before the battle, and just going in and outside of people's minds will help. It will help train your mind to ease in and out of the state easier and smoother."
I nodded, "Sounds good."
Over the next few numerous hours, I was in and out of minds, in constant feeding and training. Chloe and Alec helped me train too. Alec and I then helped Chloe trained. Her power amazed me! She could move a giant tree just with her mind! It was incredible! There was a time when Jane decided to join us and then went to attack Chloe with her power to see what would happen. Amazingly, Alec's power covered Chloe before the intense burning power hit her. Alec was amazed. As his power usually crept up, it was bewildering that Alec was able to cover Chloe almost instantly! All three of us worked with Alec and over time, he sped up his power to only a few split seconds before it covered his targets.
--00oo00oo00--
It was finally here. The day…
The day we were going to fight.
Athenodora and Sulpicia were pacing up and down the lounge room; it would be the first time they fight. It would be the first time for Chloe and me as well. I didn't know if I could actually do this. Actually kill someone… undead or not.
"It's going to be alright. Your vampire instincts will take over. Trust me." Edward's toneless voice shot across the room.
I nodded, wanting to believe it but doubting all the time.
All I had on my mind was Demetri. Where was he? With the Romanians obviously… Was he okay? Hopefully. Have they killed him yet? I hoped not.
Carlisle walked into the room, clapping his hands together.
"Ready?"
We all nodded and then followed Carlisle out the door. Taking a deep whiff of the fresh dew outside, I let my vampire senses take over. I felt the earth shift under me, I felt everything, I felt like I was apart of the earth. The La Push werewolves were all lined up at the edge of the forest, there was fourteen in total. It was amazingly beautiful, but now I knew what everyone meant when they said they stunk. It was true; there was a mangy wet dog smell that lingered off them, mixed in with a very woodsy smell. Not exactly a pleasant mix.
I felt a light punch on to my upper and turned to see Alice.
"You alright…?"
I nodded and breathed in, tasting every single molecule in the air. I felt so free.
She shrugged nonchalantly, "Not that I'm really in any position to say this, but it's kinda a thrill…"
I looked at her through a shocked gaze, "A thrill?"
She shrugged again, "You'll know what I mean when you actually get into the fight. But getting to use your vampire abilities is so… rewarding. If you know what I mean."
I sighed, "I guess I'll find out."
She sighed and wrapped an arm around me, "I don't have to be Edward to know what's bothering. We'll get him out soon. And if he's the Volturi warrior we all know he is… he's already devising a way out."
--00oo00oo00--
Demetri POV
Oh shit.
There was no way out.
At least… not exactly without loosing my limbs... But I just had to get out. But I needed all parts of me to successfully get out…
It would have been a cinch to get out, apart from the fact that there was a vampire here and there ready to rip off my arm… or leg… or even head.
Then, suddenly, swift footsteps clamored down the stairs, skipping every second. Right now, it seemed like my powers useless, apart from the fact that I could now keep tabs on Alena's every move. It seemed that Ozera was a lot like Bella… powers work inside not out.
"They're coming."
I straightened up and leaned towards the bars as far as I dared.
"When will they be here?" Another voice ventured into the conversation.
"The army that the Cullen and Volturi gathered up… Dan says they could be here within a matter of hours."
"What do we do?"
"Stefan and Vladimir want everyone to get outside, set up barracks and whatnot. We're going into battle it seems."
"What about the Volturi prisoner."
"He dies. Now. I'll take care of him. The Rulers have decided he is now just a liability."
Subconsciously, I backed away from the bars.
A pair of footsteps clattered off the floor and up the stairs. A menacing figure loomed out of the shadows and into my view.
Calypso.
His bulkiness reminded me of Felix and Emmett. But his eyes were fierce and hard. They practically screamed no mercy. I gulped. I shouldn't be afraid; I've been in the Volturi for decades. I could easily take on a figure like him in less than a second. But at Volterra I had been on a steady flow of blood everyday. Right now, I hadn't fed for more than four days. Oh god, I felt so weak. I hadn't been away from blood this long. I wasn't very strong. I was one of the biggest threats in the vampire world, let alone the human and I couldn't even survive less than a weak without blood. What a wimp.
He smiled cruelly and strolled up to the bars, breaking the door away.
"It's a shame you have to die."
I raised an eyebrow, "Oh, it's so obvious you care." I retorted sarcastically.
He laughed, "No. Not really."
I sighed and stood up straighter, "So, I'm ready for my execution."
He grinned, "Stefan and Vladimir told me you've kills thousands. So, now, you get to know what they feel like."
I rolled my eyes, "Joy."
I scowled as I heard him chuckle and then there was a deafening blow as he threw a blow to my stomach. I screwed my eyes shut as I skidded back a little, but then I stood up. I wasn't going down without a fight. Calypso grinned evilly at my defiance.
"A fight. This is more like it."
I snarled as he rushed forward. Oh these stupid newborns.
SMASH!
As he reached out a hand to push me but I instinctively caught it and twisted it, pulling it. Well, there went his hand.
With a roar of pain, Calypso reared up a little and thundered on again. This time, I ran forward to meet him. I slipped under his outstretched arms and skillfully wheeled back as quickly as I could. Before he knew it, I had leapt up, crouching on his back and my hands where placed on a dangerous position on his neck.
"No more hide and seek for you." I muttered as I flicked my wrists and let the detached head fall from my hands and down on the floor. Swiftly ripping the rest of him up, I found some matches on a bench that was in the dungeon and after slipping a few into my pocket, I set the figure on fire and then collapsed to the floor for a quick breather.
After a few seconds of collecting myself and regaining strength, I leapt up again and ran up the stairs. Nobody was near. They were all outside, moving. Closer towards Alena and the rest…
I groaned, feeling so weak. I could feel the black in my eyes also clouding my head. I needed blood. I didn't care where from. I just needed it from somewhere! I found a close window and jumped out, landing softly on the ground. Then, I took off. I'd jumped a fair distance away, so unless someone had been watching, I should have been able to leave unnoticed. After running a few miles towards Alena while the Romanians and their army where moving at a brisk walk, I finally reached the cover of very dense forest. I sniffed the wind and then heard a sharp growl behind me. Feeling the tips of my lips tug up, I turned around and tilted my head at the creature that was now in front of me.
"Well hello." I smiled sadistically at the creature that would soon meet its death.
The mountain lion growled ferociously at it, but I took no notice as I leapt towards it, instantly sinking my razor sharp teeth past the soft skin, flesh and fat. It was like a knife slicing through butter…So easy... I located the artery and started to drink until the body had been drained. Out of all my priorities, getting back to Alena would have been the first… but the smell of blood was calling out to strongly to me, and this time, I let myself fall into the deep severe temptation of bloodlust.
--00oo00oo00--
Alena POV
We'd been running for days, we'd all already fed on creatures in the forest on the way yet, some had discreetly stolen some humans and fed on those. And to tell the truth, I'd cheated too, as did Chloe. They were just too tempting. Not all of us could be Bella or Carlisle. We were still Newborns and our newborn side was bound to strike out any moment. It had, and we'd ended up feeding on a human each. Chloe didn't say anything for a whole day before she finally accepted the fact that she was a vampire, and all vampires had blood lust. I, on the other hand, had accepted the fact that I'd given into my vampire senses quite quickly. It was like being on a diet. And the human blood was the temptation. Some people could survive well against it. Other people, like me, couldn't really…
We're here. Edward's voice snuck into my mind.
I looked around and saw that we were a snow covered landscape. I listened out for human thoughts. There weren't any for a while away. More than enough space for an attack that wouldn't be heard by humans.
Are they here? I asked back, knowing Edward would be reading my mind too.
Edward smiled grimly and jerked his head in the distance. There was a small hill. Not small enough to be seen over, but not big enough that it was a mountain. The enemy was hidden, just behind the hill. My family, friends and allies all trailed slowly up the hill, slightly afraid to see the sight that would meet us.
The hill was almost gone, and in less than three seconds, we would be able to see what we were facing.
Oh dear.
There were… Eight six in total. Plus a terrifying figure that loomed over the vampires. I gulped. It was the werewolf. He looked oddly out of proportion but still extremely dangerous in every single aspect.
"This is it." Carlisle's voice travelled throughout the alliance.
I walked over to Chloe and collapsed a hug onto her.
"You're my best friend, forever and always. Love you forever."
Chloe looked as though she were going to cry, "You're my best friend too. Forever and Always, Love you more."
I sighed and smiled sadly at her, "This could be the last time we get a chance to talk."
Her lower jaw trembled, "If it is, I'm glad things turned out the way they did. I wouldn't change it."
I looked over my shoulder to the army and then back at her, "Neither would I."
After one more hug, I swiftly took my place beside my family. It was like an arrow the way we were positioned. Aro was in the very front, his vulture like face glancing distastefully at the army. Behind him were Caius and Marcus. Behind them was the Volturi. Every single one of them, no matter how beautiful and angelic they looked, looked like the most terrifying creatures on Earth, and in some sense, they were. Then we were behind them, Carlisle and Esme out the front, next to them was Edward and Bella. Emmett and Jasper were in front of Carlisle and Esme, ready to defend their family. Alice and Rosalie stood with me, behind them. The rest of the alliances were spread out, looking death defying and terrible. But was that enough? Was skill and experience enough against vast numbers of strength?
I sure hoped so.
