Nesting uncomfortably in a remote corner of her chest, Bella felt the trepid drumming of her heartbeats changing pattern as if a hummingbird was trying to escape its cage. Not like a crescendo, more like a wandering beast jolting in a quiet forest upon hearing the hunter's first shot. Her resolve, already so fragile from Edward's display of vulnerability, came tumbling down and died out with a last pathetic, shallow gasp for air. She sustained Jane's fierce gaze as best as she could and for as long as she felt capable of before Demetri got tired of their staring match and ended it with a heavy sigh.
"We do as instructed," he answered the tiny vampire though her question was no more than a taunt.
With that, he turned on his heel and went back to the hallway he came from. Felix returned alone to the reception and spared her a sideways glance accompanied by a playful smirk before he did the same, leaving Bella to follow after the twins. She did so once they started walking back into the hallway, hand in hand. She looked over her shoulder to catch sight of Gianna, but the human secretary was no longer at her desk.
The painful tension was dissolved, but she still felt it in the vampire's stiff manners and guarded posture. They were much too quiet, and she couldn't know if it was normal for them or caused by her presence. Because he seemed to care very little about the whole ordeal, Bella kept closer to Alec as they walked to wherever it was that they were instructed to go, but Jane seemed to have a problem with that. Her mean smile disappeared in a flash and her expression morphed into the resentful look of a bratty child. It did not escape Alec's notice.
"We are not supposed to scare her," he reminded her.
Jane merely huffed and looked ahead.
Unlike the humid stone maze that she had to enter when she arrived at the castle, this time the vampires guided her exclusively along the simple, well-lit corridors adorned by paintings and tapestries. The sturdy wooden doors scattered about their way remained closed until they reached the upper levels of the building. Tripping on the carpeted floors and shaking both from cold and undisguised fear, Bella was taken aback by the crashing wave of relief that engulfed her when they stopped in front of one of the simple doors. She should be anxious, she knew. That closed door was hiding something unknown, and she had no idea of the guards' instructions, but she was relieved that the walk to the unfamiliar room was so uneventful and silent.
What awaited her was an entirely different matter.
The door opened from the inside without any apparent signal from the vampires around her. The smell of old paper and furniture polish hit her as soon as the door swung open revealing a neatly organised study room. Underneath the strongest scents, she could also faintly smell flowers and dry leaves.
"Isabella! Thank you for coming. Please, take a seat."
Aro's resounding voice was unmistakable but she took a few seconds to spot him far back in the room, partially obscured from her view by a tall bookshelf. Dressed all in black, but without the undulating robes he wore before, he waved gracefully in her direction and a gentle breeze ruffled her hair. Looking around, she found herself alone with the vampire king. He smiled at her again and fixed the cuffs of his long sleeves before gesturing for her to sit down.
She swallowed nervously but the lump in her throat remained a bothersome reminder of her inadequacy. There was a tattered chair close to where she stood, so she took tentative steps into the room and hesitantly sat down on it. Aro nodded encouragingly, clasping his papery hands together, his warm smile never leaving his lips.
"How nice of you to join us. Thank you for taking up our offer."
There was an angry huff and Bella jumped in her seat.
"Brother, you startled her."
Bella had to stretch her neck to see who Aro was reprimanding. The blond king was also there, she finally noticed, and he had his arms firmly crossed over his chest. His scowl was the polar opposite of his brother's amiable smile.
"It is hardly our offer, is it?"
Aro allowed his smile to slip.
"That is what we are about to settle, is it not?"
Caius uncrossed his arms and took a few steps towards them, begrudgingly nodding in agreement. Bella was perched on the verge of her seat and fixed her posture once she realised it.
Aro took a moment to look from the immortal by his side to the human in front of him, his smile making a timid comeback. Caius' scowl disappeared and was replaced by austere neutrality. It was not the relaxed, welcoming energy Aro tried to give off but it was certainly an improvement. For some reason, Bella's eyes wandered to their feet and she noticed they wore identical pairs of shiny leather shoes.
"You have an interesting ability, Isabella, even as a human," Aro stated excitedly. "It is not a common occurrence, which is why I offered you a position in our guard. Unfortunately, this same ability complicates our situation a little bit, can you see how?"
Bella bit the inside of her cheek as she considered his question. She didn't know if he was testing her or simply wanted to include her in the conversation, but she would feel better if they did most of the talking. She thought of what had happened in the larger room, the fight that broke out when Edward put himself between her and Jane after Aro couldn't read her thoughts.
"You can't read me like you read your guards."
He clapped once and she jumped again.
"Well done! Yes, that is correct. I can't access your thoughts as I do with my guards. Surely you can see how this could be a problem to us right now, were you to stay here with us."
She shook off his condescending tone, trying not to be offended by the way he spoke to her as if she was a smart dog. Yes, she could see how that could be a problem. Judging the way Caius raised his chin and stared at her through half-lidded eyes, she imagined that he had a bigger problem with that than Aro.
"She can't be trusted."
Aro sighed dramatically as Bella didn't try to refute him. He took a worn-down chair for himself and sat by her - to put her at ease, she guessed, for he didn't need to sit at all. Caius made no such effort, staying exactly where he was, unmoving and unblinking.
"Now, I don't regularly check everyone's thoughts around here. It is in fact quite rare that I feel the need to do it. With new ones, though, it is good practice. I'm sure you can understand that."
She slowly nodded. The longer she spent in that place, the less inclined she felt to stay. The fog of her despair had lifted and she started to see her decision for what it was: an intrusive thought that got the best of her after months of declining mental health.
"Which is why," Aro went on, apparently oblivious to her internal panic, "we ask that you are completely transparent with us. We need to have a conversation about your reasons and expectations, and we need to get to know you better. But you have to be honest. Can you do that?"
Could she?
She didn't know. She didn't want to be honest with them, of course. Her entire plan relied on her intention to trick and take advantage of them, but now that she was thinking a little better, she was not convinced that she had the skill to pull it off.
"Ok."
Aro looked at Caius and they had a quick, inaudible conversation.
"How much do you know about us?"
It was Caius who asked the question, and so he was not clear nor friendly when he posed it. She frowned.
"About you…?"
"The Volturi," Caius explained impatiently. "The Olympic coven didn't seem to tell you much about us, so why would you want to be part of the guard?"
She flinched. They knew. Of course, they knew all she wanted was immortality, how could they not? It was too obvious. She felt like punching herself.
"I didn't have a lot of time to… consider the offer," she admitted. "I never fit in well anywhere. After the Cullens left Forks… it has been difficult. I want a place in the world, I guess."
"And to be immortal."
She didn't confirm it but her silence was acquiescence enough for the fair-headed leader. He smirked and clicked his tongue.
Aro shrugged. "Understandable, I would say."
"She has no real knowledge of us or our importance to the vampire community. She wants to get bitten and return to the Olympic clan," Caius all but accused her, offended by her ignorance.
Aro didn't seem to care about her questionable motives.
"She is young. We will teach her."
"It's not worth it -"
"Ah, but we don't know that, do we? We can always hope, brother."
It occurred to Bella that they were letting her understand the conversation, unlike the whispered altercation they had shared before, which could only mean that she was supposed to be a part of it as well.
"I will stay. For however long you want me to."
She tried to sound firm but her voice cracked at the end. Caius chuckled.
"Stupid, naive little girl. It is an honour to be part of our guard. You think you are sacrificing yourself to obtain something you want, but you can't be farther from the truth. If you are not formidable, make no mistake: we will not want you here."
Her heart began to pound viciously in her chest again, and she tried to steady her breathing. Her fingers coiled up, grabbing the edges of her chair. She could hear the harsh noise of her nails scraping against the wood. Aro didn't soften the blow this time, waiting expectantly for her reaction to his brother's warning.
As unkind as his words were, she knew them to be true, or Aro would have said something.
It was getting increasingly harder to breathe. She focused her attention on her knuckles turning white for a few moments, rummaging her mind for the right thing to say, the words that would seal the deal and convince the ancient beings in front of her of how serious she was about this whole thing. How committed she was, if not to them, at least to her own goal - a goal that could benefit them as well. Her fingers began to tingle. By the time she uttered her answer, she could barely feel them anymore.
"I'll meet your standards or die trying."
They raised their eyebrows in a display that would have been comical if it was not so elegant and synchronised. She curled her toes inside her old sneakers as she waited for them to say something, feeling the pressure in her chest starting to affect her head as well. She took a deep breath as quietly as she could.
At last, Caius laughed. The full, warm sound bounced off the walls of books stored around them, echoing in her dizzy head for a few seconds too long. She didn't relax.
"Very well."
Aro cracked a brilliant smile that made him look like a cat about to pounce.
"How nice of you to join us," he repeated, his voice low and solemn, and it sounded completely different from the first time he had said it.
He stood up and she mirrored him automatically, nearly knocking over her chair in the process.
"There is only one more thing to settle."
At his words, the door behind her flew open. Demetri stood at the threshold, tall and lean, staring down at her from underneath his dark eyebrows. His black hair danced above his shoulders as he moved aside to let the third king into the study room and in a flash he was gone, leaving her in the company of one more vampire behind closed doors.
"This is my brother Marcus," Aro introduced him. "You must remember him from earlier."
She nodded. Marcus eyed her with detached cordiality.
"We have discussed Isabella's permanence in our home, brother, and would like your input as well."
The youngest-looking king eyed her and she cringed under his absent gaze. He lifted one hand and grazed Aro's palm with the tips of his fingers, prompting Aro to sigh disapprovingly. He paused for a second, opened his mouth, and decided against whatever he was about to say. Instead, he forced himself to smile again and shook his head.
"I see. Of course, I also believe it is an unnecessary risk. She is much too appealing."
"I believe not testing her is an unnecessary risk," Caius intervened. "Let her prove herself trustworthy. If she dies, it is still better than having a newborn traitor in our midst."
Bella's heart skipped a beat.
They were discussing the time of her transformation.
They were deciding to turn her right away. It was two against one if Aro also thought that having her as a human in the castle was an unnecessary risk.
New panic bubbled up in the pit of her stomach, cold and numbing. She felt it spread to her limbs and then she couldn't feel anything besides the stomping sound of her pulse banging against her skull. That was what she wanted, she chanted in her mind. Over and over, she reminded herself that she wanted it more than anything else, and volunteered to serve them in exchange for that.
So why was she panicking?
It was too sudden. She was alone with strange immortals that had no reason to care for her at all. She was barely a passing curiosity to them, an experiment. They wouldn't suffer for her death if it was to happen. They would be slightly disappointed at best. It began to dawn on her what she had given up for that life then; her father, whom she would not be allowed to see ever again, as well as her mother and Phil. Her friends at school would also have to think she was dead, and Jacob wouldn't want to see or be near her once she became his natural enemy. She might have lost the Cullens as well, pledging allegiance to another coven, and one that Edward and Alice seemed to dislike so much at that. She was alone.
Or so she thought for an excruciating moment.
Demetri reappeared, with as little noise as he did previously, this time flanked by Felix and Jane. The excited glint in their eyes and their hopeful smiles alerted her to something wrong involving Edward and Alice.
"Masters," Jane greeted sweetly. "They are lingering."
Caius huffed. "Of course they are."
Aro pursed his lips, visibly dissatisfied for the first time since Bella let him take her hand.
They were lingering. Edward and Alice were still around, in the city, disregarding Aro's order to leave as soon as they left the castle grounds. They were disobeying the kings of the vampire world for her.
She felt a spark of hope violently ignite in her heart and turn into a flame.
"Have they been contacted?"
Jane's right eye twitched and her smile turned into an ugly sneer.
"Yes, Master. They have requested another audience, but not before Carlisle Cullen has arrived."
The little flame threatened to burn Bella's heart to ashes.
Aro hummed, seeming to reflect on the news. After what Bella could only describe as another awkward exchange of silent looks between the only two kings that cared about what happened around them, Aro rested a cold hand on her shoulder. She held her breath.
"Demetri, please take Bella to her quarters. Jane and Felix, keep watch on the Cullens and let them back in as soon as Carlisle is here."
The words echoed in her head insistently, intense and uncomfortable like a throbbing headache. Let them back in as soon as Carlisle is here. Her future was not forfeited; at least not yet. All was not lost.
She was yanked from the nervous rambling consuming her mind by Demetri's calm, grave voice.
"Yes, Master."
She exhaled.
Guided by Demetri's featherlike touch on her back, she left the room tripping on the gaps between the boards of the hardwood floor. He chuckled at her clumsiness and she was mortified to feel her cheeks burning up in response. In a feeble attempt to hide it from him, she lowered her head and let her hair fall like a curtain between them.
Like he couldn't smell the blood or feel the warmth from feet away.
"You were very brave to stay behind on your own," he commented, his voice barely above a whisper.
She didn't dare to look at him, still self-conscious of his hand on her back and her treacherous blushing face, but she thought she heard something like praise in his tone.
"Hm, thanks." She then considered the possible subliminal meaning of his words. "If it was a compliment."
She felt his fingers twitch and his nails scrape the fabric of her blouse. When he spoke, she could hear his smile.
"And what would it be if not a compliment?"
Her feet were dragging across the carpeted floor, and that was a disaster waiting to happen, so she made an effort to lift them properly with each step. She wondered if he thought the same thing and if it was the reason for the hand on her back; if he was anticipating her fall and preparing to catch her.
"A threat."
He laughed. Daring to look at him, she saw him lift his head and laugh fully, the broad smile enhancing his unnatural beauty.
"You would know if it was a threat, Isabella. If you are ever in doubt if a vampire is threatening you, they are most likely not."
Laurent's face flashed before her eyes, their encounter in the meadow still vivid in her memory.
She believed him.
"Then thanks."
Another laugh escaped him, a little more reservedly this time. She stretched her arms and gracelessly shoved them into her pockets, and her elbow brushed against him. He gave no indication that he felt it at all, keeping his hand on her back to guide her as they walked side by side, but she felt a little static shock shoot up her arm all the way to her shoulder and winced.
He removed his hand from her.
"Forgive me," he said in much the same way he had said it to Edward earlier that day; with a hint of mockery that was not enough to convince her that he was indeed mocking her. With that, he began to walk in front of her, keeping a human pace so she could keep up with him.
He took her through another set of pleasant corridors to a medium-sized guest bedroom. In contrast to the impersonal, commercial-looking reception area and the cold, dungeon-like passageways, it looked and felt perfectly mundane. It had a queen-sized bed sided with a plain bedside table, a simple closet, and a working desk. The supernatural reality of her situation was momentarily muffled by the absolutely ordinary feel of the room she stepped in and she finally relaxed her muscles. Demetri turned around, smiling at the change in her posture.
"The wardrobe is filled with clothes in various sizes, I'm sure you will be able to find something that fits you." He gestured to another door opposite the one they came through. "There is the bathroom. All you need for a bath is already there."
She nodded and he walked out, stopping in the hallway with a hand on the doorknob.
"Welcome, Isabella. I hope you feel at home here."
She swallowed, feeling nervous by the unexpected sincerity in his voice.
"T-thanks."
His welcoming smile turned into a smirk at her stutter and he slowly closed the door, all the while staring at her through the decrescent gap until it disappeared and the door clicked shut. Finding herself as alone as she could be in a building full of creatures with heightened senses, she fell to the ground in a puddle of nerves and regret.
It was like her heart was shrinking, compressed by the building tension in her chest, and falling through the burning hole Edward left so many months ago. But this time he hadn't left, and neither did Alice. Carlisle was coming. They wouldn't abandon her again, they could still fix this. She repeated those comforting truths until she felt capable of going to the bathroom to take a much-needed shower. She couldn't imagine herself preparing a bath and soaking in a tub at such a moment, and she had no idea when someone would go in there to retrieve her, so a shower would have to do.
Still, as the warm water hit her tense muscles and she tried to unknot her hair with her fingers, she couldn't keep the wave of worrisome thoughts from taking over her head again.
They didn't trust her. She was not sure if she was a guest or a prisoner, but the vampires in Volterra didn't care for her. They were willing to gamble with her life out of mild curiosity and discard her if she didn't meet their expectations.
It's fine, her mind shouted defiantly.
She didn't trust them either.
She trusted her luck to keep her alive for a little longer and that would have to be enough for now.
a/n: hey there, thanks to everyone who faved/followed the story, hope you enjoy the chapter. please let me know if you catch anything wrong, English is not my first language.
if you're reading this story after reading my other one, I probably should have mentioned that this is going to be quite a different take on the Volturi. If you haven't read my other fic let's keep it that way lol not exactly proud of that one.
jh831: I forgot I could pair up the characters in the description, but this is going to be Bella/Demetri mostly. I've been using google docs and haven't had any problems yet, hope it stays that way lol. Thanks for reviewing :)
Sandy2348: Thank you so much! Hope you like the new chapter
LaurelLeafSinger : Thanks and hope you like this chapter!
RALAC: lol I also really like to read Bella becoming a vamp without the Cullens, it feels like she gets to be more of her own person. Thank you for the recs, I have taken the time to read the first two and really liked both, will be searching and reading the third one soon
asia. joanna. 7334: thanks! hope I didn't take too long and that you enjoy the chapter
anothertwilighter: thank you! Let's see for how long Jane can behave ;)
If something happens and I can't update for a month or longer I'll say something on twitter so feel free to check it if I take too long to come back :)
