"Is he always like this, or is it just us?"
I glanced over my shoulder.
An unsurprisingly moody Alec was posted up by the front door of the vintage fashion shop, phone to his ear. His mouth was set in a hard line, and upon first glance, he would appear grim, stoical, and uninterested in his conversation all at the same time. He ran a hand through his hair and for some reason, the sight made the corners of my lips tilt up. Everything was shifting, and we were adjusting, but it was the little habits that sent me. I made sure to hide it when I re-entered the conversation, keeping what privacy I could for Alec and myself.
I shrugged. "Depends who he's talking to." I grabbed for another hat on the wall, tossing it towards Emmett. "Add that one."
Emmett examined the green hat with bright red daisies and decided it was ugly enough to add on top of the other four on his head. He bent down to admire himself in the mirror.
"What about sharks?"
He squinted but grinned brightly a second later. "You'd have to catch 'em."
I snorted, "you expect me to believe you've never tried?"
"Hey smarty pants," he cocked his hip and pointed a finger at me. Which was even less intimidating with the tower of flower hats on his head. It had me missing certain friends of mine. "You don't know my–"
"Yes," Jasper rounded the corner with a faux fur jacket draped over his arm. "Multiple times."
"Et tu, Jazz?"
Jasper shrugged his brother's dramatics off, lifting up the large men's winter coat to show me. "Wicked," I approved the fashion addition, so he helped me add it over the two similar ones I already had on. Quite a difficult task considering both the weight and the sleeves building up.
While Emmett was going afternoon tea hat shopping, I was preparing for a winter adventure in Narnia. The three of us had made camp in the fitting room lounge area in the assorted clothing store, hidden behind half-walls and essentially making a mess of a bunch of accessory items while Alice and Rosalie shopped.
It was the fourth clothing store in the informal shopping center. We'd gone into each of them, though they weren't nearly enough for Alice. She had insisted on buying both Alec and my's clothing for the rest of our time with them, which made sense seeing as we were wearing Jasper and Rosalie's old clothes, but she'd eventually gotten fed up with my fidgeting and sent me to sit with the boys.
The recent news about Razin made it feel safer to leave the Cullen's property. This, paired with the fact that once we returned to Volterra, leaving the castle would be a nonstarter, made me practically beg to go with the women. Of course, Alec insisted on coming along, which required extra precaution in the form of Jasper and Emmett. It wasn't too bad. Emmett and Alec seemed to have settled their differences by not speaking, which was the best anyone could hope for. It also allowed Emmett and I to bond over our boredom. Though, being out and about was enough for me.
"So, do you guys factor in an animals' risk of extinction when you hunt or is it just like, eh, to you?"
I didn't get an answer, because the instant Emmett saw me he let out a single guffaw and pointed like a child. "You look like a baby bear!" I laughed along, spinning as if to show off my attire because, to be fair, I was sort of drowning under the three outrageous coats.
Jasper chuckled, resettling the heavy material as it began to fall off my shoulders before re-claiming his fabulous poor quality leopard fabric chair. Which might have been, hands down, the ugliest thing in the place.
I reached for another hat hanging on the wall a few inches short of my fingertips, but another individual got to it first. Alec deposited it into my hands straight away but was frowning when I faced him. As expected, he'd refused to wear contacts, preferring to look like a pompous tool with sunglasses every time we went inside. And they said I was the stubborn one. He raised an eyebrow as he took in the sight before him. Emmett was balancing a stack load of hats like a debutante practising posture and Jasper, who had allowed us to load him up with a boatload of plastic necklaces and bracelets was lounging back in amusement. And me, who challenged him.
I declared his inconvenience, "excuse you, sir, but I have important matters to attend." A hint of a smirk quirked up at the edges of his lips, hardly noticeable through his mask of steel. His eyes flickered to the fur of my coats, and his hand rose to feel my forehead, testing my temperature under the layers of warmth. I went to smack him away for trying to ruin the fun, but he removed it just as quickly.
He took a seat across from Jasper as Emmett and I continued to goof around, getting more ridiculous by the minute.
"I say! I rather enjoy your hat," I complimented the giant with some oddly ancient and exaggerated accent. My made-up line set him up perfectly. I'd seen the joke on the tip of his tongue since the moment he put on the second hat. Which made him even rowdier as he exclaimed in a similar accent,
"Which one!"
This was as far as we got before thinking we were the cleverest comedians since Le Chat Noir. We burst into a fit of giggles and I took a sweeping bow to him, tipping off an imaginary hat. When he tried to copy me, he bent over and the hats came tumbling onto the floor. We froze and then fell right back into raucous laughter.
I'm positive that Jasper and Alec were not as entertained by our plight in any means. Still, I pointed at Emmett to make fun and mimicked his bow. But I swung up too fast and stumbled back from the weight of the coats. Straight into one of the salespeople.
Alec was behind me in an instant, hands on my forearms as he put space between me and the unlikely threat. My heart fluttered at the protective instinct – which I promptly ignored. I tilted my head to look at him, but his eyes were locked on the guy I'd nearly tackled to the floor. We got a weird look from the store employee, who replaced it with an irritated expression.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're disrupting the other customers," we were informed in conveniently perfect English. Before I could argue that his store was emptier than a post office on Sunday, the boys were restacking the hats, returning the jewellery to the stands, and my adventure fur coats were slipped off my shoulders.
I pouted in disappointment, and when the other two had their backs turned, Alec smirked, a simple and common behaviour that still set fire to the wild, fluttering butterflies in my stomach. He lifted my chin with two fingers and my eyes flickered to the others, who were still occupied. Unconcerned, he ran his thumb tenderly over my bottom lip. My lips parted, as he willed it, if out of nothing but sheer astonishment at his boldness.
His hand fell as the worker reappeared, glaring all high and mighty at us. We joined a waiting Jasper and Emmett to be escorted out of the doors when a lilting voice interrupted.
"Wait!" Alice grabbed my hand, separating me from the men. "I need her." She flashed pearly whites at the boy. "She won't be much trouble without them, I promise." The guy stumbled under the glamour of her vampiric charm and nodded.
"But these guys have to–"
"That's fair," Alice decreed. "Why don't you boys bring the car around."
Alec went to protest against leaving my side, making sure to send a dark glare to the employee. Which, even with the sunglasses, physically unsettled the man. But with another shoo from Alice and a nod from me, he allowed the other two to lead him outside.
We'd already been in the shop for quite a while, hence why the boys and I decided to have a little fun. But Alice promised this was the last store, so I followed her around with shrugs and half-empty opinions on clothing or jewellery or anything else she asked my thoughts on. I'd been all about playing along at the beginning, but by the third shop, it was all one and the same.
When Alice's side of the store grew tiresome, I switched to follow Rosalie around the other side, just to have something new to look at. But in truth, it only took a few minutes for me to become unruly without my playmates. I ran my hand along the racks of clothing and poked at neatly stacked knickknacks as I returned to Alice yet again. The male worker was glaring at me, but desperate to please the beautiful women, he resigned himself to silent stares. I stuck my tongue out at the same time that Alice placed something casually in my hand. She continued browsing without an explanation, and my curiosity was piqued.
I turned the circular tube object over in my hand. The language that identified it was unfamiliar to me. It looked like makeup. "What's this, then?"
"Cover-up."
"Huh?"
"It hides skin blemishes and such."
Rosalie joined us, smirking, and in a teasing, salacious tone, she added, "like love bites."
My eyes widened and I dropped the tube, which was caught by Alice. She giggled, proud of having a go at me. "It's okay. It won't work with our kind anyways."
I spun around and tried to fix the collar of my shirt, glancing in a mirror to make sure I'd succeeded. I was thinking of ways to get back at him for letting me walk around like that. But it wasn't readily visible at all. I pushed the fabric up more and my heart spiked when I saw it, recovering it immediately. I sent barely intimidating daggers at the two women, who were still teasing me in good humour.
Rosalie moved on to the dressing rooms, disappearing behind the half-walls the boys and I had previously been hiding behind. I tapped Alice's shoulder, "I'm gonna go with her." She nodded and proceeded to chat with the woman at the register, handing over her card.
I glanced out the open door as I crossed the store, but slowed to a stop. It was a heavily cloudy day, so only a few groups of shoppers were scattered around the plaza. A small café, a barber's shop, a candy store, and a vintage garment/antique shop were among the most popular. There was a fountain laid out in the center of the plaza and I could see the gravel parking lot on the opposite side.
Technically, Alice didn't need me anymore now that she'd finished her purchase. I remembered where we had parked, so there wasn't any particular reason I couldn't walk there by myself. I would get to the car before they even knew I was gone, Jasper could call and let Alice know I'd ventured away, it was no big deal.
That was my thought process. And I truly believed it. Until, I was halfway across the circle, right by the fountain and someone shouted something in a language I didn't know. Which is probably why I didn't get out of the way.
I grunted as the air was knocked from my lungs and I stumbled back, losing my balance to fall onto the loose stone pavement. I was thankfully quick enough to fall the correct way, avoiding landing on my knee and relying on the side of my shins to fall, albeit roughly, on my outer thigh. Which required a little extra support from my hands and forearm. I quickly pushed myself up into a sitting position within a few seconds to look around. I was only a little disoriented, but I couldn't see the person that knocked me over and they didn't stop to help.
My right leg was covered in the small grains of rock that had rolled under my shoes when I'd walked across it. The small pieces of rock made the old pavement slippery and I was grateful I hadn't worn jeans that might've ripped before realizing why this was not the happy conclusion I thought it was.
I was wiping the gravel off the side of my thigh and clapping my hands together to get rid of the last few shards when I noticed it. Specks of bright red began spotting randomly across the scrape on my palm. The scratches on my thigh had already spawned a small amount of it as well. It wasn't a lot. But it was enough. Maybe I'd fallen and slid with more momentum against the pavement harder than I thought.
Oops.
I turned my head over my shoulder, but neither Alice nor Rosalie were in my line of sight. In fact, no one had seemed to notice my dramatic fall. I went to push myself up when someone stopped in front of me. And almost in slow motion, the owner lowered himself to my level. Even through the sunglasses I could see that the obsidian black of his pupils had spread like a plague into his irises.
Double oops.
It didn't matter where the Cullens were. They would be too far away and there were too many people around for them to do anything without drawing unwanted attention.
Alec's cold hand reached out and seized my wrist. I jumped as the movement sharply slid me closer, the grain of the pavement making it even easier for him. I could see my skin compressed between his fingers, the venom-filled veins in his hand prominent but his eyes were fixated on my palm. In what seemed like a patient minute, I cast my eyes to his. And there was almost something intimate in the moment his eyes swept to mine, like a predator that pauses to relish in the life it was about to devour. This was not Alec, but his darker side. The side that killed those men in the alley without a thought and beheaded a vampire I was responsible for creating only a few days ago.
Shit. I really messed up.
He began to pull my wrist towards him and against my will, the speed of my heart doubled. My mind sang a memorial tune to the subtle warning Alec had given me long ago, "it only takes a taste, human."
There was a crash. The piercing cry of a child split the air, attracting the attention of the entire plaza.
And with lightning speed, Emmett's burly form appeared, restraining Alec around his biceps and yanking him up. Jasper was there next, forcefully removing Alec's ironclad grip from my wrist before both Emmett and Alec vanished. I gasped for the air I'd been too nervous to take.
My head moved from side to side, terrified that someone had seen. I spotted Rosalie on one knee across the courtyard and outside the previous shop, smiling at a young girl with pigtails. The man beside them was animatedly apologizing to Alice as the short woman easily handed him a large box from the ground like it was nothing.
My attention returned to Jasper.
"No one saw," he confirmed, returning from also looking around. I realized his gift gave him special confirmation. He glanced at my palm, lingering and he swallowed.
I carefully reclaimed my wrist from his hands. "You good?" There was half a pause before he responded.
He admitted, "it's much easier now than it used to be." Nevertheless, he instructed me to dip my hands into the fountain and brush off my knees as the girls headed towards us.
"Emmett will need help," he wasted no time passing me off and brushed past the few people that walked around us, entirely oblivious to what nearly transpired. The sooner Alec remembered his gift, the less chance Emmett had.
I expected admonishments, but the women were expecting my first question and Rosalie spoke before I could. "Relax." Her tone was sharp and I wanted to flinch, but if anything, I'd learned how not to let on to how I felt about the dangerous reality of Alec and I's...circumstances. "A time out will do him some good. Are you hurt?"
I raised my eyebrows. Didn't she know? I humoured her and shook my head. "Just dandy. Can we go?"
They exchanged looks but granted my request. As we walked to the car, Alice apologized for leaving me alone several times, which was odd because I'd left her. But without warning, she halted in the middle of the road before pivoting and sprinting in the other direction. I didn't need Rosalie to tell me that she had taken off after the boys.
Rosalie called Carlisle on the way back, speaking quickly so I couldn't understand her. Not that I couldn't tell what she was talking about since she kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror. They were being a bit dramatic, seeing as I typically had to go to a hospital after any fall and Carlisle basically had an equivalent setup. I was going to be fine. Although, I had to admit that the worry made me feel like I was back at the nunnery with the sisters fretting over even the most minuscule of injuries. I'd never appreciated their concern as much as I did now, at least in a nostalgic sense.
I was sent immediately to Carlisle's office when we returned so he could use his mini x-ray to check me for broken bones or anything else potentially life-threatening. It was the most familiar pattern I'd engaged in for months.
"How did you fall?"
"Err..." I had to think about it. "I dunno, I think someone bumped into me or something. It's no big deal." The quick glance I got reminded me that the family did not agree.
Carlisle gently placed a bandaid on my leg, searching for his next question. He asked gently, so as not to assign blame, "how many close calls have the two of you had?"
"This has never happened before." I insisted, choosing to keep 'close calls' to a definition that included only spilled blood. "Although, technically, Vladimir did cut my cheek on the train to trick Alec. You guys saw the bandaid when we got here." Another silent, regretfully judgemental look on his face had me rethinking our arrival, realizing I never replaced the one Prosper gave me. "Right, well, he was a bit more preoccupied at the time anyway so it didn't matter either."
"You were alone with Vladimir?"
I avoided the details, "not for long," He didn't say anything, acting all mysterious-like, so I prompted, "am I good?"
Carlisle nodded, handing me the ice pack on his desk, along with the other tools he'd prepared after Rosalie called him to explain.
"I bled for like, a second. Thank you, though."
"It's not for the scrapes. You have a bruise forming on your wrist." Damn heightened vampire senses. I looked down, seeing only a slight red tint appearing on my skin. He held the ice pack out to me, and while it was annoying having a doctor tell me what to do again, I knew he was right. I did as I was told.
"Thanks, Carlisle."
"Does Aro have a doctor on call for you in Volterra?"
"Err..." I shrugged, "I haven't really needed one."
He nodded at me, his brows furrowing in thought as I walked out of the office with another exchange of appreciative pleasantry.
Once in the hallway, I swallowed a lump in my throat, a flash of worry able to run through me when I saw that there was no sign of the others. In fact, I couldn't find anyone on the first floor. I was reluctant to rejoin Carlisle, as he seemed prepared to ask more questions than I wanted to answer. So I returned again to the empty room, where paint cans were still left out, and a few additional brush sizes had been added.
I transferred every thought, positive and negative influences alike through the brush and onto the wall. It helped blur the time, letting my focus on the painting take over my worry for Alec. And yes, the ice pack ended up melting in some corner.
I picked up a smaller brush size and dipped it into the colours I'd mixed just as Esme appeared in the doorway, hand over her eyes but with a gentle expression on her face.
"Under the circumstances, Alice approved a sneak peek. If it's alright with you." I made a small sound of approval, but upon hearing Alice's name, my head snapped and her positivity dimmed a little. "They're still trying to calm him down." I grimaced, but nodded and set the paintbrush down to give myself a break. I was worse than useless in this situation and I was growing tired of the problem.
"Looks like I'll know where to find you from now on," she teased, her hand indicating towards the paintbrush.
I played with the hilt, "thanks to you."
Her cold hand reached for my empty one and she indicated her head towards the wall. "Do you know why Alice chose this painting?"
I took a gander, "first date night for you and the Mister?"
She smiled despite my playful sarcasm. "Not quite. It's just one of my favourites."
She let go of me and approached the wall, like Alec had said, she seemed entranced by the details. "We did see the original in the Musée d'Orsay, however." Esme went quiet for a moment, her fingers inches from the paint as if she were identifying a memory among the colours. "The texture, the thick strokes in every wave...your recreation is not dissimilar from the original." She seemed to almost be suggesting something, opening up the dialogue for me to introduce something new. How she'd know anything, even with Alice's gift, I had no clue. Maybe I wasn't giving her enough credit and she just knew. Did that mean I could be honest as to my history with the painting?
I coughed, still not sure what she was getting at. "The Musée d'Orsay was one of my father's favourite museums. We'd spend hours in a single room."
"Really?" Her voice was incredibly genuine. "Your father took you to museums as a child?"
I nodded. It was safer than a playground. "Museums, galleries, the opera, anywhere with culture. He knew everything about art; the history in the natural adaptations of different mediums, how a painting's worth could change over the years – and he could spot a forgery a mile away." I didn't realize I was smiling until she looked at me, the curiosity mixed with concern told me I'd said too much. I picked up my brush and returned to sitting criss cross on the floor in the corner, choosing to continue detailing the reflection of the gas lamps that shone on the water.
"I'm sorry about your father."
I froze, the tip of the brush a breath away from the wall with the wrong colour wetting the bristles. I dropped my hand, wiping the brush on the apron and sending her an unconvincing tone. "Me too."
"Do you mind if I join you?" I thought that would be it, but as soon as I agreed, she joined me on the floor. It seemed odd. Sure, Jane and I regularly made the floor our setting as one would a sitting area. But, for a woman like Esme to sit beside me on the newspaper covered ground...it was unexpected. But it filled a comfort that was unfamiliar, one I didn't know I'd ever want. It was different from any of the sisters. They took up caretaker roles, but Esme was a mother to a rowdy group of young adults. More than a title.
"Thank you, Saffiya. This is a magnificent gift," she said softly as I picked up the correct instrument.
"It's the least I could do. Considering you've put up with Alec and me."
She squeezed my shoulder. "Our covens have not had the best relationship recently. But you and Alec will always be welcome."
I grinned, promising, "I'll pay our intrusion with a recreation of any painting you like."
"Careful," she wagged a finger at me. "I may just take you up on that."
"Well, it's certainly a more honest use of my skills than I'm used to." I joked, but Esme tilted her head and gave me another soft smile. Which left an open space, as if she knew the topic placed a heavy burden on my mind. "Did you know the original painting is roughly worth about $280 million American dollars?"
"I did not."
I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth."The Starry Night Over the Rhone that you visited is now hanging in the private home of some rich bazillionaire."
"My father stole the original." She waited to hear it from me, "the one hanging there today is a forgery." I glanced at her, her non-judgemental and caring spirit.
"Yours." Esme finished for me, nothing but understanding coating her words.
I laughed with a bittersweet tongue, "my dad was an excellent role model."
"And your mother?" I paused, not expecting the question but unafraid to answer.
My face squinting to recall. "I remember that she was happy. Always happy. But she'd have bad days, when she would hear things that weren't there or..." I paused, the memories from my early childhood long since faded. "And then she'd go away for a while, but my dad always brought her back. Until one day he didn't."
Esme gently moved my hair behind my shoulder. I knew she'd been helping distract me from my worries about Alec. But I'd long since stopped painting and I could feel the emotional exhaustion creeping up on me. But it seemed conversations that were not typically draining combined with today's events was a hell of a dose. Esme helped me up and I stared at her as she began to speak, amazed that she'd gotten so much out of me. And even more so because it had been so natural, so unintentional.
"Why don't you get some rest," she suggested but I shook my head adamantly. The corners of her eyes crinkled knowingly. "I have no doubt that you will be his first stop."
I just wanted to make sure he was okay.
I tried to kill time and push off sleep by taking a shower, settling in the large armchair instead of the bed and reading a poem or two. It was the poems that did me in and I drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. Always waking to a silent house. Until, finally, I heard my bedroom door fall closed, clicking against the lock. A thin stream of light on the floor suggested that it hadn't been shut all the way. I leaned up, because why leave a door cracked if you weren't going to open it again.
His voice confirmed my suspicions, only it was defiant and harsh. "Have you come all this way to gloat?"
I considered that he might yet again be on the phone, until I heard a much calmer voice reply.
"To help. And it looks like you need it."
~•~•~•~
A/N: Le gasp! An update? Ooo, who's this stranger?
KirikaAndo: Alec's appearance I imagine sticks with the film, using the book to take a few liberties. As for Saffiya, probably a mix between Priyanka Chopra and Zendaya, leaning more towards Zendaya's side. I think I had something a few chapters ago as well. But honestly, that's as much thought as I've given to it.
sab31897: Hang on tight! Story's not over yet ;)
All the butter and all the flies,
Ro
Note: You got a little insight into her mother, so that's nice. I wanna clear the story up, because it was developed during Saffiya's character workshop and there won't be much more on the subject. Her mother had schizophrenia, and unfortunately, some people with schizophrenia (definitely not all) can end up on the streets and into drugs even with a loving family at home. Which was the case with her mother. Someone once asked how her mother both disappeared and died, so this is my answer to that inconsistency.
