Pain

"Welcome, Eleazar," Aro greeted politely as Felix led him into the great hall. "I trust your journey was pleasant."

"Yes, thank you, it was." Eleazar replied. Due to the urgency of the letter he had received, he had taken the red eye. He knew that Aro had a tendency to get over excited, especially when it came to potential powers in a human or vampire, but this did seem more important than usual. "The human in question will be arriving shortly, I presume."

"Yes. I have sent Demetri to fetch her."

As if on cue, the large oak doors opened, and Bambi (in yet another Queen's dress – Bambi started to think if the coven even knew what jeans were) and Demetri entered the room. Bambi looked at the stranger with curious eyes. She wondered who he was and why he was here.

"Cara mia, I would like you to meet Eleazar. He is a former member of the Volturi and a dear friend to us."

The stranger walked towards Bambi with a smile and held out his hand, palm upwards. "Hello, my dear. And your name is?"

She placed her hand in his and spoke shyly, still curious. "Bambi."

Aro could sense that she was confused, and he cleared things up for her. "Eleazar is here because of my curiosity. You see, he has the power to tell what power other beings have. I hoped that he would be helpful in finding yours, my dear."

"Oh… Okay then." She said, smiling a little. She wondered why Aro was so obsessed with finding out what her 'powers' were. Was he just looking for a way to beat boredom? Or did he have an ulterior motive?

"So, my friend, do you have any conclusions so far?"

There was a pause as he studied the girl, her hand still in his. "I think so." That was all he said. He let go of her hand and walked back towards the thrones to hold out his hand for Aro. Aro took it, and Bambi saw his eyes widen in delight. What had Eleazar seen? Was it anything special? 'Then again,' Bambi thought, 'what could be so special about me?' Apart from the singing and dancing, she couldn't think of any particular skill that would make her useful. Well, not useful enough for a powerful vampire clan anyway.

… So why was he still smiling?

The two vampires spoke quietly for a moment. Eleazar nodded at Aro and headed for the door. On his way out, he lifted Bambi's hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, my dear." He kissed her hand, and left.

She looked up at Aro, still with a kid-at-Christmas expression. "What did he find?" She asked. She had to know.

He stopped to think for a moment, and then walked towards her. "Do you remember the tour?"

She remembered it all too well… She nodded.

"Do you remember what you felt when you first saw Heidi?"

Yes. Yes she did remember. She remembered how her beauty had swarmed her, and how lovely and inviting Heidi had seemed. She remembered how she felt as if she wanted to do nothing more than go on the tour that she was being offered. She told Aro this, and he replied with a sentence that stunned her.

"The gift that you possess is similar to hers, only yours is much stronger."

'Wow,' was all she could think. "So, I… attract people. Is that the right word?"

"Yes, in a way. Heidi's attraction is derived from beauty. Yours is created whenever you sing, or whenever you dance. Also, the scent of your blood is rather sweet, although I doubt this will occur when you have been changed."

This surprised Bambi greatly. She had never thought of herself as attractive. She didn't think of herself as pretty, she never wore attractive clothes back home and she didn't particularly act in an attracting way. She never flirted with anyone; in fact she never even looked at boys anymore. This power was everything she wasn't.

But something else stuck in her mind. "But, h-how would that benefit you?"

"It makes you very intriguing, I must admit. I could use you. I think you could become a very important part of my guard."

"R-really? Me?" 'How on earth could I be important?'

Aro was curious as to what she was thinking in that moment, and he held out his hand. She placed hers in his.

"You really must stop thinking so little of yourself," he said with a certain seriousness to his tone. "It is irrational."

This was something she disagreed intently on. "I don't f-feel it is." She looked down at her feet once more.

"I understand what you went through was horrific, cara mia, but you must try to overcome it. It has been two long years, after all."

That hit a nerve. Suddenly she looked up at him and removed her hand from his. "I'm sorry, but you have no idea what I went through." All the nervousness disappeared, and her old confidence returned. "I have tried to overcome it. I try every day. And it never works. It just turns me into a sobbing shivering wreck. My school's counselling was a joke, one conversation with you undid everything they helped me with. My mum didn't have the money for a private counsellor, and I couldn't talk to her because she was too busy drinking and sleeping around!" The confidence outburst turned into an angry rant. She didn't care what he did to her afterwards. She needed him to hear this from her own lips and experience, instead of stealing memories from her mind. "And It doesn't matter if it's two years, two decades or two centuries, I will NEVER stop thinking about it. It was the worst thing to ever happen to me, and I would appreciate it if you stopped talking about it!"

She stood a few feet away from an emotionless Aro. He was going through the thoughts hitting him. Partially, he was amazed that the fiery Bambi had made her second appearance. He did like her very much.

But, his place of power and leadership was being shamed by her words. He did what he felt he had to do.

In a second, he flashed towards her like lightening. His hand clasped around her neck and shoved her hard to the ground. She screamed as her head hit the marble and her blood began to spill. The pain was excruciating, and it made her feel extremely dizzy. Aro's face was full of burning anger, and she became very frightened.

In the next second, she was being held in the air, feet from the ground, barely able to breathe.

The rage in Aro's eyes was so tremendous, Bambi felt like they would burn into her skull.

He threw her at the wall, and she landed in a trembling heap. She felt the back of her head. Her hand was now covered in blood. She looked up at Aro once more. He was storming towards her.

"No, please! I'm sorry, please, don't hurt me!" She pleaded with him helplessly. She tried to get up and run, but it was too late. He grabbed her wrist, and started licking the blood off of her hand. The cold moist touch of his tongue sickened her.

Then, he bit into her wrist. She screamed harder than she'd ever done in her life. She felt as if all the strength was draining from her. He knelt down and continued sucking her blood. "Stop… please…" She struggled to speak. She felt her eyes closing, and her consciousness began to disappear.

Finally, he pulled away. She was barely awake when he leant down to whisper in her ear.

"You will not talk like that to me again, cara mia. Do you understand me?"

She just nodded, gasping for breath. Tears rolled down her eyes and mingled with the blood on the floor. An ocean of red was the last thing she saw when she gratefully passed out.

Later

"Well, brother. By the sound of it, you finally gave her what she deserved." Caius sat in a mahogany chair opposite Aro in the library, conversing over the morning's events.

"I punished her for speaking in a harsh manner towards me. It doesn't matter how I feel about her, she will succumb to any other human's treatment, Caius. I have never changed the way I work."

Caius scoffed. "I'm just annoyed that it took you so long. I would have started the moment I met her."

Aro smiled. "The next time she misbehaves, I will bring her straight to you, does that satisfy you?"

"Very much." He smirked. "I will leave space in my diary."

A knock on the door interrupted them. Renata entered the room, with a sullen look on her face. "I'm sorry Masters. Bambi is not well enough to eat at the moment. I think she is a little traumatised from the events of earlier today."

"I do not care if you have to force feed her, Renata, just make sure that she eats." Caius sneered. "Keeping an alive human captive is much more useful than keeping a dead one."

"Very well." She nodded her head. She left the room.

"Renata." Aro called her back in. "Tell her that I'll be visiting her later. No exceptions."

She paused for a moment, knowing that this may cause dismay for Bambi. Then nodded. "Very good, Master." Then she went to tell Bambi the Masters' wishes.

"So, what are you planning to discuss with her, Aro? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?" He said sarcastically.

"No, brother. As much as she infuriated me earlier, I do not want our entire relationship to be built on fright. I will not apologise to her, but I shall show that I have composed myself, and I will warn her not to speak in that manner again."

"I would carry on torturing her if I were you…"

"Yes, Caius. I know full well what you want to do." He said, smiling.

Later

Bambi lay in her bed, awake but unmoving. She was no longer tired as she'd had a long nap, but she was still very much shaken. Obviously, anyone would be, but his actions once again reminded her of her time with her captor. Of what he did to her…

It was too much this time. She wasn't just a little afraid of Aro anymore. She was terrified of him, of what he was capable of. He knew that she was incredibly sensitive, but he didn't allow for her outbursts. And she didn't know how to control her outbursts. They just came from nowhere – completely out of the blue. All the rage that she kept bottled up inside and hid with a smile. Tears weren't enough. She needed to scream.

Renata had come in earlier, and had told her to eat, adding Cauis' 'subtle' threat of force-feeding. She obliged. She didn't need another vampire dead set on breaking her. She'd also been given the news of Aro's visit, which had involved a mild panic attack. She hoped that he wouldn't hurt her again. Not today, anyway.

She lay on her side and shut her eyes, hoping to drift back to sleep, where she could forget about the real world and the dangers that she would have to face. Ten minutes later, she felt a breeze, but thought that it was just the window, and tried to sleep again. Then she could sense a shadow across her face. She opened her eyes to face Aro, and immediately she jumped out of bed. She pressed her back up against the wall as he walked towards her slowly.

He became very close to her, and she shut her eyes, waiting for an attack. But all he did was clasp her hand to read her thoughts, as he always did.

He learned of her feelings of the attack, and about the similarities to her captivity in England, which fascinated him yet again.

"It is quite alright, Bambi. I will not harm you." She opened her eyes and looked at him, still on her guard.

"R-really?"

"Yes, cara mia. And I will not harm you again during your stay here, if you behave accordingly. What possessed you to speak to me like that earlier?"

She shook her head unknowingly. "I guess you just hit a nerve. I'm sorry."

He nodded. "That's better. Now, how is your head? And your wrist?"

'Extremely painful.' "They're okay." She'd forgotten that he was still holding her hand. "Well, not okay exactly. Renata washed all the blood out for me, but the cut's pretty bad."

"It will heal soon, I am sure." He could still feel the tension and fright in her. He felt that she would always feel this way now.

He didn't mind that.

Aro kissed her hand. "I shall see you later. I hope you will come down to the kitchens for breakfast, yes? Oh, and do try to hold your tongue, my dear. Caius is much more vicious than I when it comes to causing pain. Believe me."

She gave him a frightened look. He walked out of sight. She heard the door open and close.

She sunk to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. Caius. Why did she have an inkling he would be even crueler to her?