Volterra, Italy 4:00 am
It was a clear night in Volterra, historic home of the Volturi vampire coven, the unofficial leaders of the vampire world since the destruction of the Romanian coven centuries ago. Since then, the Volturi had remained the royalty of the vampires, laying down laws and destroying rebels and overeager hunters to avoid detection by the human world. They had been successful. Until now.
And now, as he sat in the elegant throne room of the Volturi, Aro, leader of their group, was feeling something he hadn't for a long time. He couldn't remember if he had ever felt this way, even in his human life, centuries ago. Caius, his right hand and ruthless enforcer of the Volturi, had once felt this emotion, when a werewolf nearly killed him many years ago, but Aro was now feeling that same sentiment, even as he sat there, all the powers of the vampire world at his command. He could remember its name, and yet the emotion was still alien to him.
Fear.
And fear of humans no less, the worthless masses that he and his kind fed off and could, if they wished, destroy at a moment's notice. At times he had thought that maybe one day, humans might be able to fight them, that one day their technology would catch up with the speed and strength of the vampires. Until now, he had believed that the day would never happen, and it had been a mere worry for him and the other Volturi leaders. The last time he had thought about this had been almost seventy years ago, at the end of the human's Second World War, when he had seen images of the aftermath of a weapon that could level cities in one explosion. He had dismissed it however, ignored Caius' call for a pre-emptive strike to rid the humans of these weapons once and for all, and had told him this was the pinnacle of their achievements. He had been wrong.
It was only now, after decades of bigger and more powerful human weaponry, that he was actually scared.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a knock at the heavy oak doors at the end of the room, and he could hear the panting breath of someone outside. Instantly he knew it was Jane, one of his most powerful subordinates, and he could smell the fear coming off her in waves. Before she had even opened the door, Aro was out of his seat. If Jane was scared as well then there must be something very wrong with the world. She was one of his prize pupils, alongside her brother Alec, and, although they appeared young and naive, they were each centuries old servants of the Volturi, powerful beyond measure, yet now, as she stumbled into the room, tears on her porcelain white skin, Aro instantly knew there was a problem, and a huge one at that.
"My lord…" she began, still crying pitifully, but already the ancient vampire leader was in front of her, his eyes staring straight into her, yet filled with concern.
"What is it child?" he asked softly, looking down at her.
"Humans…" she replied tearfully. "They know of us."
Aro laughed ,a smirk on his impossibly pale features.
"Really Jane? This concerns you? Where are they? They will be destroyed before the sun rises."
But when Jane continued to cry, and prostrated herself before him pleadingly, all her pride and dignity gone, Aro knew this was serious.
"What happened?" he began slowly, taking a deep breath to calm himself, despite the fact his species didn't need to breathe.
Jane stood up, but her face was still marked by sadness.
"A new-born, my lord. He attacked a human refugee camp in central Africa, killed or turned dozens, maybe hundreds."
Aro's eyes blazed with anger.
"Where is the newborn?!" he demmanded, his calm façade instantly dropped as he realised what this meant.
"The humans destroyed him. I only found out from Alec who was on a…"
Jane was silenced in a second as she felt herself thrown through the air, hitting the back wall hard. It didn't hurt particularly, but it was the thought, the idea, of her master, who had turned her centuries ago, raised her and her brother amongst the Volturi, had struck her, was horrific to her. As she picked herself up, for a second she considered using her powers against Aro, but knew she would be dead before she so much as thought it.
"The humans destroyed the newborn?" Aro repeated, pacing across the marble floor, a thoughtful look on his face. "So it is true. Caius!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Caius was in front of him, bowing slightly toward the Volturi leader, which Aro returned swiftly .
"What is it?" Caius said gruffly, running a hand through his long blonde hair, a slightly annoyed look on his face.
"We may have a problem."
Caius smiled, but when Jane spoke again, that smile died, replaced by a look of pure anger.
"My lords, Alec told me it was a United Nations camp, and that it may have been filmed by the camp's…"
Before she could form the next word, Caius had her by the throat, his powerful hands ready to crush her in a second.
"What did you just say?" he said quietly, but Jane sensed that he was seriously considering destroying her.
"This is worse than I thought." Aro said ,then turned to Caius. "I always feared this day would come…"
"Worry not, my friend." Caius said, a grim smile on his face. "I will go to this place, destroy the humans and any newborns, make all well once more."
The Volturi leader paused for a second, then nodded.
"We need this sorted. If the humans found out…"
He left that thought hanging for a second, and both Caius and Jane instantly understood. For centuries they had been the guardian of the vampires' secrecy ,but now ,if the humans were to find out, and such a powerful body as the UN, things could escalate quickly.
"I can stop this." Caius said softly, whispering almost in the leader's ear. "Rally the Guard. We strike now at their headquarters, destroy any evidence and witnesses. They can't be allowed to know of us. We have been in the shadows too long, my friend. Maybe now is the time to put them in their place…"
"No." Aro replied shortly, knowing that Caius had been prone to argument before. But now was not the time for reckless thoughts. Now was the time for action.
"As you wish." Caius said shortly, annoyance obvious in his dark crimson eyes. "I will take the Guard. Cleanse this camp of any newborns or humans. But if it all goes wrong…"
Aro's eyes flashed deep black for a second.
"It will not! The humans will not find out, they will not strike!"
Jane looked on, shocked at Aro's outburst, but Caius merely frowned slightly before saying.
"It will be done. Jane, with me."
And with that the two other vampires were gone in blurs of light and Aro was left alone. He considered calling for Marcus, the third of the Volturi leaders, at least for some more pleasant company than what he had just had.
As he walked back to his throne, Aro heard a faint whining in the air above, and the whoosh of a jet engine overhead.
"Probably some human aeroplane" he laughed, almost ashamed at his previous fear.
Everything would be fine.
Then his world was lost in flame and blackness overtook Aro forever.
Brigadier General Francesco Pilli flew his Eurofighter Typhoon jet away from Volterra, a heavy weight on his conscience.
He had just used the first tactical nuclear device in a war since 1945,and now felt the reality of it come crashing down on him. How many people had been in that town when he dropped that weapon on them? Eleven thousand? Twelve thousand? And how many of them had been vampires? Probably only a hundred at the most.
Since he had been given this mission, since two men in black suits had taken him to one side at his airbase only an hour ago, dragged him out of bed in the early morning and told to take this mission or risk life imprisonment, he had been on edge. When they had said the words 'vampire' he had felt it to be a joke, some ridiculous set up by the base commander. But when they said 'nuclear weapon' he had sat up straight. And when they had told him that he was expected to bomb a town in his own country, kill his own people, he had been ready to punch them both, shut their mouths and stop their fake smiles and sympathy.
But then he had slowly begun to realise that this was the only option, that the monsters they described to him had to be destroyed and, as he sent his jet spiralling away from the ruined city behind him, he looked back for a second, and saw the mushroom cloud spiralling up into the sunrise.
Caius felt a long, harsh scream erupt forth from him as he watched the cloud rising up from what had once been Volterra, saw the firestorm raging within the remains of the city. Hot, angry tears sprung up from his blazing crimson eyes, and he felt the rage within his body ready to create an explosion of hatred to rival that which had levelled his home.
Behind him the ten other vampires he had brought with him were all silent, their expression ones of pure shock and sorrow.
"My lord…" began one of them, placing a hand upon the remaining Volturi leader. He never spoke again. Without a word Caius grabbed the vampire by his throat and ,with a scream of rage, tore his head from his shoulders and hurled it away into the devastated woods around them. Turning to the others, his hands contorted into claws, his appearance was so angered and horrifying that the ancient vampires before him flinched as he spoke, stabbing a finger toward the mushroom cloud over the former city.
"We will have vengeance! I will have vengeance! These…humans, will regret the day they decided to fight the vampire race!"
As the others nodded in agreement, Caius' keen eyes easily picked out the vapour trail of a human jet plane in the golden sky overhead.
Without another word he began to run, sensing the others behind him, sprinting so fast he was a blur, following the trail of the plane, ready to destroy whatever he found at the end of his hunt.