3. CONTAINMENT
When the pain finally began to subside, Maria opened her eyes. She was shocked at how much more clear everything seemed, even though it was nighttime. There was no one around and she wondered where they had all gone. She looked down at her once broken wrist and was grateful that the pain from that was gone as well. Her skin surprised her. It was as pale as her father's was. She traced the fingers of one hand on the back side of the other and up her arm. It felt smooth and strong.
"Hello?" Maria called out. "Can anyone hear me?"
Silence. Maria wondered how she would get out of the cage if there was no one to let her out. She reached through the bars to the lock on the other side to see if her father had left it open for her. She wrapped her hands around the steel lock but it bent and molded to her grip.
"How strange." She thought aloud. She pulled on the lock and it snapped off as easily as an apple being picked from a tree. She laughed to herself. "Perhaps this won't be such a bad thing." She pushed the cage door open and let herself out. It felt good to stretch her body and be able to stand upright. She looked around, searching for any sign of the others. Had they really abandoned her here?
She looked down at the city below the hill and enjoyed being able to see things more clearly. How bizarre, she thought to herself. The fires were still burning. She was unsure of how long she'd been out of it, it felt like an eternity, so it was strange that the fires had yet to die out. She recognized that same pungent smell of burning sweet but it was stronger now, perhaps because of her increased senses. She studied the village, looking for signs of life but there were none, not even humans.
She began walking down the hill and towards the broken city. As she got close she saw a man step out of a building and into the street. He was not someone that she recognized but he had long dark hair and a smile on his face, he was clearly a vampire. Others trailed out of the building following closely behind. One girl was so close to him it looked as if she were hanging onto part of his clothes. They didn't notice her so Maria went to get their attention.
"Excuse me, but have you seen a man named Benito?" Before Maria could react or have time to process what was happening, the clan of vampires had her surrounded with teeth bared and throats hissing. She then realized she had been very foolish. This could be the Monterrey coven.
A large male with cropped brown hair forced her to her knees and stood over her while another male with shoulder length dark hair guarded the other side of her. The one with long black hair that she had seen first approached her, the girl still clinging closely behind him.
"Hello newborn." He smiled down at her, condescendingly. "I'm afraid that I have seen Benito, but he is no longer with us."
"Where did he go? Look, I don't want any trouble. I just want to find my father." Maria did not fight against the two guarding her; she had no idea how powerful she was.
The man's face became thoughtful. "Benito was your father? How interesting. Well my dear, I am Aro and we are the Volturi. Did your father tell you about us?"
Maria tried to think back. She was sure she had never heard of them. "No, he didn't tell me anything really."
Aro's lips turned down at the corners. "What a shame. But rules are rules. You have all exposed us to the humans and we can't let that go unpunished."
"What? No, I haven't done anything! I swear to you!" Maria began to fear the predicament that her father had put her in.
"Hush child." Aro said softly. "There is no denying it. Just look at this city, left in ruins. Your father was clever for creating a newborn army, I'll give him that, but he was reckless! We only have one rule: keep the secret. If you can't even do that then you have no business being a vampire." He gave a nod to the two men standing over Maria.
They grabbed an arm on either side of her and began to pull, as if to rip her apart.
"Noooo!" She screamed. "I swear, I was never in the army! Please, just give me a chance…"
Aro held up his hand and the two men stopped pulling. "Well child, if you truly are innocent, then you will allow me to read your thoughts to prove it."
The idea was such a foreign concept to her but she was desperate. "Yes, I'll do anything." The men released her but pushed her back onto the ground.
Aro pushed the sleeve up on his arm and reached for Maria's hand. She gave it to him and watched as he closed his eyes and took everything in. She knew that he would see the truth but she worried that it would not be enough. As he soaked in all the thoughts she had ever had in her entire life, she pushed in one more thought for him to read.
Let me live, and I will do anything you ask of me. Anything at all. Even…
She let the thought trail off so that Aro could fill in the rest. The only three things that she knew a vampire would want were human blood, power, and sex. Since she did not have the first two to offer, she was willing to give up the third. It was the thing that her father's army wanted as a reward. It was the only thing she had to give.
The last thought caught Aro by surprise and his eyes danced with excitement. It was then that Maria noticed a ring forming on his crimson irises. Almost a milkiness to it. She looked at the others standing by but they did not share the same ring. Their eyes were quite clear.
Aro finally spoke. "She's telling the truth. She was only just changed and had no part in the tragedy that has taken place here." Then he turned to Maria. "You are quite lucky this time. See to it that you never make the mistake of exposing our kind to humans, otherwise your fate will be much worse than that of your fathers and his followers."
Maria finally caught on. She looked around at the pillars of fire and realized they were burning the bodies of all her father's soldiers. "Did you kill all of them?" She gasped.
Aro smiled again. "Why yes, I had to."
Maria didn't know what to feel. Benito, Ramiro, even Diego were dead and gone. She thought that she should be sad, but she wasn't. She only felt alone.
"Now everyone," Aro continued to his followers, "go ahead and continue to clean up the city. Make it look like a plague came through and killed everyone. Destroy any evidence that our kind was here. In the mean time I'd like to be alone with Maria here for a little bit."
The crowd dispersed and everyone walked away except for the girl, still clutching to Aro. He turned to her. "Renata dear, go and join the rest."
"But Aro-" she argued.
"Enough Renata! Go!" Aro seemed as if he were annoyed with her. A hurtful expression washed her face but she obeyed and turned to join the others. Aro turned back to Maria and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"
She took his arm and walked with him, side by side. He led her into one of the abandoned buildings on the street. Technically it wasn't abandoned; there were dead human corpses everywhere. Their blood had gone rancid but suddenly Maria was fiercely hungry.
Aro's hand had been touching her hand and he was aware of her thirst. "I'm afraid there are no humans left alive here. You can feed later."
They walked up a flight of stairs and into an immaculate master bedroom. The only problem was that there were two dead humans lying in the bed. Aro released Maria's hand and said "How dreadful. Give me a moment to clear this up. Why don't you take a look at yourself in their mirror? That should bring you some pleasure."
As Aro went to work with removing the corpses from the room, Maria made her way to the mirror. He was right. It did bring her pleasure. She was so much more beautiful than she had previously been. Her hair was still a black ebony and she still had her mother's features but her skin was porcelain, like a dolls. Her eyes were no longer the chocolate brown that she remembered but now bright red. She looked forward to morning; she wanted to see her own skin in the sunlight.
Aro's reflection came in behind her. He swept her hair to the side and began kissing her neck. She had to admit, it felt good. Aro was an attractive man and he had power. She was attracted to that as well. She wondered if he would let her join his coven. Aro's fingertip traced down her arm and touched her palm. He read that last thought.
"Not a chance." He whispered.
