The fast-paced beat of dance music reverberated through the floor like an earthquake. A continuous rumble kept the nightclub on a constant earthquake alert status. If there were words to the songs being replayed, I would bet money that the partygoers did not know the lyrics. Or perhaps the lyrics did not matter to them as they flailed about, shouting out random words in sync with the music before laughing about nothing in particular.

The building had been remodelled from an old theatre, the seats taken out to make room for a dance floor on the ground level. The DJ booth was set up on the stage, raised up in front of a mass of dancers and surrounded by enormous speakers. From the orchestra to the mezzanine, and throughout the grand entrance hall, there was gold marble lining the walls and floors. It must have been a grand performance space in its peak.

Our entrance into the main area triggered a subtle reaction. Crowds parted and heads turned to stare as Chelsea led our small group's way through the throngs of people. Their presence alone was like a magnet for people's attention. There was no audio cue over the blasting music to inform them of the arrival of the most beautiful creatures they have ever seen. Rather, the recognition seemed to be innate. As if it were their very purpose to be seen and acknowledged by something so otherworldly. They were practically begging to be the vampire's next victims.

We had barely reached the dance floor before Heidi and Jane were asked to dance leaving Chelsea and I to awkwardly adjust to the location and our new one-on-one situation. Chelsea handed me her purse and directed me to choose a table overlooking the dance floor. At least, that's what I think she meant. She just sort of waved her hand towards the DJ and then at the booths nearest us.

I weaved through the masses of people, finally popping through to the near empty seating area. It was early enough in the night, that no one needed nor wanted to sit. Only a single couple, already lost in each other's throats, practically wrestled with each other in a corner booth. I settled in, casually tossing the purse on the other side of the table and turned to watch the dancers.

Chelsea joined me moments later, handing me a drink.

"Thank you, but I don't drink."

"It's water." She barely glanced at me, choosing instead to look through her purse. "I have no interest in managing a drunk human tonight."

"Make that two of us." For some reason, my response earned me an amused twinkle of her eyes. Maybe it was the smoke in the air or the unexplained gust of air on my exposed back, but I considered the possibility that I might just win Chelsea over tonight. That is, if I played my cards right.

Before I could do so, Jane returned, deliberately seating herself between me and Chelsea and assumably, more importantly, further from the crowd that teetered on the edges inches from our table. We both gave her curious eyes, but Jane shook her head deliberately.

"Humans do not change."

Chelsea let out a sweet giggle, hiding her laugh fashionably behind her hand. "Sweetheart, humans change. Men, on the other hand."

I spoke before I could think, suggesting half-heartedly, "should've used your gift on him." A sly smirk grew on Jane's face as she stared out into the crowd.

"Jane!" Chelsea exclaimed, not half as outraged by the girl's behaviour as she sounded. "You didn't?"

Jane rolled her eyes as if being scolded by a step-parental figure. She held onto her hard, carefree demeanour. "He's fine…a little sore," as soon as she caught my eyes, the smirk on her lips became more genuine of a smile. "He was so drunk he slipped on an ice cube. Broke his nose." I broke first, and soon Jane joined me in small laughter. As surprised as Chelsea was to see Jane laughing so openly, I think she was more in awe at the fact that I had triggered it.

"You two really are a pair, aren't you." I was definitely mistaken, but there was the slightest hint of adoration in her voice at the thought of Jane and I's friendship. And what did she mean? Were we a unique pair in general? Our ages were practically the same biologically. Or was it just that Jane's stone cold demeanour was so excellently crafted that imagining her with a friend was as impossible as man in space?

Not long after Jane's arrival, we spotted Heidi stomping over to our table. The small Italian man who had offered her his hand only minutes ago was trailing behind her, shouting what sounded like apologies. I was genuinely curious as to how the human had so quickly wasted his opportunity to even engage with a gorgeous being such as Heidi but only a few feet from our table, he managed to jump in front of her.

It all happened so quickly. One second, the man is trying to smooth talk her, but in the instant he placed his hand on her bum to pull her closer, she reacted. Heidi nearly ripped his hand off of her before stepping back and full on flipping the dude in front of her. He landed on his back, groaning against the tile. I could now read the distinctive letters on his otherwise black shirt: Best Man's Best Man, written out in silver. Was that supposed to be a compliment?

Some of the people around them gasped and were all too happy watched the action unfold. As gracefully as a movie star, Heidi fixed her front curls and literally stepped over the man, closing the last few feet to sit beside Chelsea at our table.

As soon as she had moved away, two men sporting similarly themed outfits stood above him and giggled childishly at their friend's misfortune. One shirt read: Best Man and the other: (Un)lucky Bastard. Quite a unique group of friends, with a wonderful way to celebrate a wedding. No one seemed particularly worried about the man's physical condition, though it seemed that pride would be his most damaged possession this evening. I turned away from the sight, though the others seemed just as entertained as the rest of the crowd.

"For a group that claims to hate humans. You all sure enjoy an activity that requires a lot of them."

Heidi shrugged, admitting, "we don't usually interact quite this much."

Chelsea added a coy smile to the conversation. "At least, not like this."

"This is more for your sake."

"So, you, handing that guy his butt, that was for my benefit?"

"All for you." I raised my water in cheers at Heidi's giddy claim. The DJ said something into the mic that got lost in my translation, but whatever he said perked Heidi up even more. "Oh my goodness, I love this song!" Heidi squealed. It seemed that the more we settled in, the more prominent it was that Heidi had adopted a new personality. One that was suspiciously identical to the tipsy, ditzy woman in a crappy teen film. Even more curious was that I don't think she did it on purpose, as if the persona were a natural adjustment to the scene.

Jane ran a hand through her hair beside me, much like her brother. She muttered to me behind a raised palm. "It gets worse."

"Let's hit the floor, ladies!" With that, Heidi swept me from the booth, leaving Jane to cackle at my misfortune. But I wasn't about to let that slide, so I managed to grab a hold of her hand to pull her along with us.

There was no way I was doing this alone. "Time to act your age, Janey!" I grinned childishly at her. She rolled her eyes at my words, but accepted my hand, joining us on the embracing of the dance floor.

Now dancing among the other people, I was introduced to another gratitude that was owed to my congenital insensitivity as I observed hundreds of other humans dancing with beads of sweat on their foreheads. I noticed after we passed a rather pretty girl smiling and laughing along with everyone else. The baby hairs on her forehead stuck to her skin as she jumped to the music with her friends. She'd stopped dancing as she fanned herself, complaining to her friends of overheating and how the sweat was ruining her makeup. Not being able to feel the temperature meant I didn't sweat. That's right, I always smell this good.

All in all, it had been a great nice so far. A right of passage, of sorts, that I never expected to experience no matter what my future held. I guess it all goes to show that life has its own plan, its own surprises and all you can do is hang on for dear life for the ride.

As I laughed at something Heidi said, a gentle tapping on my shoulder prompted me to spin around.

And into the arms of a very fit, very human guy.

Even under the dark, flashing lights of the club, his olive skin stood out in the crowd. A five o'clock shadow enunciated a square jaw and for some reason, I lost the ability to use my words. The polite thing to do, would be to look away. After all, staring at a complete stranger was not only rude, but it was certainly something you didn't want to get caught doing.

He was just so darn pretty.

It took me a moment to realise that he was saying words. "Oh, sorry, I don't speak Italian."

He smiled and surprised me as an undistinguishable accent repeated, "would you care to dance?"

I turned back to the girls. Jane had stopped dancing, a distinctly sour expression on her face, which made me inclined to deny his offer. However, Heidi didn't seem to notice either of our hesitation. "She'd love to!" She gently shoved me towards him, letting me stumble into the random guy's arms.

I hastily regained my balance, mumbling an apology and turning around to shoot Heidi an indignant scowl. However, I was distracted by the terrifyingly livid expression on Jane's face. She was already whispering angrily to Heidi, but a gentle tug on my hand brought my attention back to the boy beside me. His eyes were soft, but murky and I politely smiled before changing the direction I was looking in. The familiar wave of butterflies made an appearance in my stomach as I caught myself wishing they were the familiar red of someone that wasn't present at the moment.

"Shall we?"

"Er…sure."

As we walked away, I saw Jane accepting the hand of a boy asking Heidi to dance and dragging him away from the older woman. The boy didn't seem to mind much at all and Heidi claimed his friend.

My view of the Volturi women was blocked as we headed deeper into the crowd of dancing people.

"What is your name?"

"Saffiya."

"I am Travis." We shared awkward smiles, standing in the middle of the dance floor, until he made the first move.

He placed a hand on the small of my waist and I blurted out, "listen, I really don't know how to dance like…" a young woman passing us by was moving her hips like Shakira with one hand in the air and her mouth slightly opened.

His laughter in response to my confession was disarming and I found myself smiling in return.

"I must tell you a secret." He leaned down to whisper in my ear, his breath was light with a gentle scent of liquor on the tongue. "Neither can she." Travis pulled away from me, looking down and grinning.

"Good to know." He seemed to be pleased as I laughed at his confident humour, and so he continued.

"Let me teach you basic steps, and I promise that they will always see you through on the dance floor."

I didn't exactly need any tips, seeing as it wasn't likely that I would spend much more time on a dance floor in the near future. But his face glowed, keen and eager to share his secret with me. I moved my head up and down to accept his offer.

"Do you feel the rhythm?"

"Maybe?"

"Good. Now, try moving your hips…like this." He slowly moved his hands to my waist, watching me as if waiting to see if I would stop him. But he was harmless, so I didn't. His large hands securely, but gently held each of my hips and he guided their movement to match our steps.

He was able to loosen his hold as I picked up the moves. Before I knew it, we were actually dancing along to the music. The simple success made me giddy and my excitement was shared by my teacher, who announced my competency. "You're a natural!"

Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I joked, "are you a professional dancer or something?"
Rubbing the back of his head in slight modesty, Travis smiled warmly at me. "Actually, yes. My dance team and I are here for an international competition."

I nodded, impressed with his obvious determination and passion though my genuine interest was lacking."That's amazing!"

"We've spent half our lives working to get here and it's our last chance, but we have a good shot." He declared proudly, looking down at me and switching gears for an equal conversation. "So, what brings you to beautiful Italia?"

I frowned slightly, "I was searching for my father. He was missing for five years."

"Was?" "He died." I informed him, not particularly caring about the bluntness of my statement. "1500 kilometres, two countries over from where he was supposed to be."

"You're sure he's dead? Ever seen the movie, Cold Case?" I glanced away at the odd and slightly inappropriate question. He got the hint to move on.

On my right, I caught another glimpse of Jane.

Jane seemed to be walking a fine line from the first tottering human we'd seen on the sidewalk. The clear contempt she held for humans was clear and unfortunately somewhat valid in our current activity. The tolerance level had definitely lowered as the general amount of inebriated individuals went up. The less magical view of the club than I'd been admiring would've seen a woman throwing up in a potted plant in a corner and some couples going a little further than they should've in public before they got shoved out. Shameful for human kind? No doubt. Shameful for them? Not tonight. But Jane was definitely dishing that shame out.

Seeing her interact with other humans struck me as odd and I was able to put together why Felix and Demetri were so perturbed by our friendship. It should scream all kinds of suspicious, but Jane had never given any reason for such distrust. Besides, I was only human. What had she to lose? Hearing her talk and listening to her stories, her hate for my kind was clear, even if I was some sort of exception.

Yet, she hid her distaste well while she interacted with the lot. Distracting herself with other aspects of their presence. Still, I caught her scrunching her nose for a second as the boy holding her in his arms leaned down to whisper in her ear. Surprisingly, a sugary sweet smile followed it, softening her face into the false security her innocent appearance provided. Well, I guess it was safe to say she'd forgotten her anger with Heidi.

She whispered something back to him before taking his hand and leading him away from the dance floor. Jane caught my eye as they passed me and she winked.

Right. There was only one reason for them to interact with humans like this. It wasn't as if they needed them to have this kind of naive fun, although maybe to fill some other needs.

My dance partner took my hand and managed to guide me through a spin under his arm and I laughed out loud through the manoeuvre. Travis pulled me back in against his chest and our dancing slowed to a near stop. His fingertips rested on the exposed skin of my back, just above my jeans. I could smell the bourbon on him as he leaned in closer to my face. He paused.

"May I kiss you, Saffiya?" He watched me through thick lashes, and though they were beautiful…they weren't the ones I wanted to be looking into.

I cleared my throat and took a step back, right into another person. I mean, clubs are close contact by nature but I was not this clumsy. Manoeuvring back around to say I was sorry, the apology caught in my throat and was replaced with, "Alec?"

It was Alec all right, with an arrival as if cued by my thoughts. He lacked his usual formal jacket or sweater, looking more casual than I ever expected to see him. Mostly due to the wrinkles that creased the expensive shirt. He was still supposed to be on his mission and even if he'd returned early, why was he here instead of at the castle?

I bit my lip as a fear intruded on my thoughts; what if he had heard Travis' last words?

Judging by the intense, smouldering look on his face as he glared slightly upward at the poor guy, he most certainly had. And he definitely didn't appreciate the proposal, despite the technically polite design of asking for permission.

In his usual high and mighty demeanour, Alec ordered, "it is time to go."

I was stuck staring at him. The last time I'd seen him, I'd not only picked a fight and said some awful things. I'd also broken down in a fit of grief and pity with tears streaming down my face and sobs wracking my chest. And he'd stayed with me. Held me safely in his arms for hours after exhaustion had driven me to sleep. When the sun rose the next day, he pressed a kiss to my forehead and disappeared on some secret mission.

"What are you doing here?"

Now here he was, standing before me in a nightclub and I wasn't sure whether to thank him for that night or tell him to mind his business in this moment.

Left in the awkward interaction, my dance partner reached out a hand to greet Alec. "Hey, man. I'm Travis," he introduced himself casually and tossed an arm over my shoulder. Alec didn't shake his hand, instead staring daggers at the arm across my shoulders. Travis' prompted, "and who are you?"

Alec's glare dissolved into a smirk, "I'm her boyfriend." Somehow, the loss of aggressiveness was more intimidating than his hostile approach.

Travis raised his eyebrows at me and some of the weight on my shoulders disappeared a little. I glared at Alec, shaking my head relentlessly. "No. He isn't." I assured the man, not wanting to be seen as a cheater or a harlot. The fact that Alec suggested such an idea tempting me to tell him where he could shove it.

Travis gave me a lopsided grin, not seeming to care that Alec was still with us. "All mine, then." The weight of his arm reappeared and he tugged me in so our sides were touching. I caught myself from a minor trip at the sudden movement, but Alec still caught it.

I watched the vampire's jaw tighten, clearly displeased at the purposeful act of dominance. There was a fierceness that hit me in the chest and sent my heart from zero to fifty. Without missing a beat — literally — Alec's body tensed even more and our eyes met. My throat constricted, conscious of the fact that very little held Alec back from harming the other man. I was used to Alec's temper by now, but there was something different about this.

Or maybe it was me, because it was the first time that I had the conscious thought that stated: This boy is beyond fit.

As commercially appealing as Travis' was, he couldn't hold a candle to Alec — with, or without the immortal bonuses. Alec was naturally handsome. I had certainly noticed it before, but I wasn't keen to pointedly acknowledge it. So, whether the thought was inspired by the context of our situation or it was just him, once I admitted the attraction, I couldn't not notice it. The youth of his features, which may have played against him as a human were amplified by the vampire attributes in a way that maintained the fullness of his cheeks but defined his bone structure. Between the way his hair fell into his eyes and the intensity of his gaze, I likened the way it made me feel to what I imagined Elvis' presence had inspired in young women. A thought that only made me feel more embarrassed and I swore I'd never admit any of it out loud.

Travis triggered some kind of amplification of the superior predacious nature of Alec's species, nature overcoming hundreds of years of nurture. In a low voice, he accidentally returned to his originally threatening technique, "take your hand off of her." The threat was crystal clear as his eyes grew a tint darker. The space between the three of us became more sinister, thick with the animosity of protection.

But Travis' level of intoxication may have hindered his ability to recognize the obvious danger, as he responded harshly with, "No offence dude, but that's not your call to make."

Before Alec could do anything rash, I removed Travis' arm from my body. "Alright, let's alpha this down." Facing the latter, I asked him politely, "give us a minute?" Travis nodded, giving an additional reluctant nod to Alec.

Once he had fully retreated to his friends a few feet away, I cleared my throat and crossed my arms over my chest. "Okay, what was that?"

He wasted no time. "I do not like the way he looks at you."

My stomach erupted in a millisecond burst of butterflies. In defiance of my hormones, I snipped back, "you mean, like he doesn't want to kill me?

He ignored my jab at our la tua situation, wholly intent on making Travis an unworthy enemy. "Human males, such as him, seek to take a woman's innocence for a mere game."

I coughed in surprise at the bluntness of his statement. "Not everyone has bad intentions." If I could blush, I was sure I would be. The taboo topic having been ingrained in me through the teachings of the church. "And my…innocence has nothing to do with you." Alec was clearly amused by my bashfulness and my poor attempt to cover it up.

"Look at you," he started and his tone was littered with snark, "how would you expect to handle such a situation?" I tilted my head at him, astounded by the bitterness with which he spoke. I wasn't sure whether I should feel insulted or not. As if he had fully examined the possibilities and decided that the best way to deter me from any unfavourable situation was through fear.

I considered his position. He made a good point, as I hadn't exactly been exposed to these kinds of situations much, if at all. But I believed in people and after the last few weeks, I clung to the naive hope that I was right to do so. My silence in thought made him think he was getting through to me as he confidently continued, "now, you won't have to." Thanks to him. He repeated, "time to go."

It took a minute, but I shook my head. "I don't want to go with you." I watched Alec's eyes narrow as Travis appeared at my side once more.

"Alright, here?"

Adamantly against missing a beat, Alec cut him off, "yes. We were just leaving."

I pushed against his control of the situation. "You're wrong, and I'm gonna prove it."

His hand suddenly encased my wrist and he gently pulled me away from Travis and closer to his body. The action was so smooth that it felt almost like a dance move, one far more elegant and sensual than those around us. This action in itself reiterated every claim he had made to protect me but apparently, we perceived threats to my safety differently. He was reminding me that he had the upper hand, the strength, and the arrogance to see it through. In the lowest decibel of his voice, he hissed, "either you return to the table on your own or I throw you over my shoulder and carry you there myself."

His eyes burned red into mine and I took a step closer to him. "I'd like to see you try." I gave him a moment to process my challenge, then hesitated, before adding, "you know, one day I hope to see the side of you that Jane sees."

My words immediately transformed him into a puppy. As was my ideal intention, but the whale eyes I was receiving were more pitiful than I ever would have believed possible for Alec.

Still, I took Travis' hand and pulled him in the opposite direction, still half waiting to see if Alec would make good on his threat. But, it seemed that I found just the right way to put a chink in his armour. He let us leave and I could feel him boring holes in my back as we did so.

~•~•~•~

I know this is a bit of an awkward cut so just consider this a part one before the storm ;)

I always love your reviews, so please keep them coming. The feedback truly helps me make chapters better.

All my love,
Ro