Fireworks
Chapter 1
As my brother Alec, Dimitri, Felix, and I step into the clearing, we can easily see the evidence of the fight the Cullens had just had with the newborn army raised by the nomad Victoria. It appears the Cullens had won. To confirm my thought, my eyes land upon the twenty or so burning vampires heaped into a pile. Next to the pile is the reason for our visit. I seethe internally; not one of the Cullens is dead. Their yellow eyes, evidence of their weakness, stare at us as we walk toward them. I do not miss the eyes of the human. I scream mentally, *STILL A HUMAN*. Edward winces; I hope it hurts. She huddles against him, not meaning my gaze. Smart, I am Jane of the Volturi after all.
We stop before them. After a moment, I take it upon myself to speak. "Impressive. I've never seen a coven survive an assault of this magnitude intact."
"We were lucky," the blonde coven leader replies. I turn my gaze to Alice, the one who can see the future, and Edward, the mind reader, still glued to his human mate. With their powers, they could easily defeat an army.
"I doubt that," I say, trying to sound confident and scary. Edward squints at me, clearly confused, and I quickly reform my mental shield of iciness. Can't slip up like that again.
"It appears we missed an entertaining fight," my brother says beside me. I latch onto this distraction gratefully. "Yes, it's not often our services are rendered unnecessary."
The mind reader speaks up. "If you'd arrived half an hour ago, you would've fulfilled your purpose. Pity, but in all honesty, I'd been busy hoping they were dead. That was the reason for our lateness."
I quickly regain control of my thoughts, but Edward still glares daggers at me. Well, that's not new. Then I spot it—a newborn girl, not even sixteen, clearly wounded, being helped to her feet by a boy. Lean and tall, with tan skin, dark hair, and laugh lines creasing his face, he has deep round glassy brown eyes that seem to get rounder as he stares at me. I am about to make a comment about the newborn, but he distracts me with the way he looks at me and the way I am looking at him!
Snap out of it, Jane!* Edward is frowning and almost scowling at the boy, who looks at him for only a second, shrugging, a happy smile playing at his lips. I don't mind because, wow, what a mouth. *Stupid girl! This is not why you're here.* I break eye contact with the beautiful boy and awkwardly look at my feet. If I could blush, I knew I would be some shade of scarlet. Alec is the only one who notices and leans over to whisper in my ear, "Jane, are you alright?"
"Fine, brother," I reply. "There's a newborn back there still alive."
"Oh, alright," he says, not entirely believing me but moving on. I find my voice and manage to say in a strained tone, "It seems you missed one." Everyone turns to the newborn, who seems to have calmed down enough to be helped to her feet. She looks up, locking eyes with me. I would normally torture a person in her situation, making them feel the pain Aro and those vampires make me and my brother feel every day, but I can't do it in front of this boy. He makes me want to be better all of a sudden. It would be so wrong.
So instead, Felix kills her. Felix starts walking toward the girl, only to be stopped by the pleas of Carlisle's mate. "Please, she's just a child." I should say something about the Volturi giving second chances and how we don't do that! But I'm very confused. I don't want to kill the girl. It might distress this boy, and I suddenly don't think I could live with that. But if the girl lives, Aro will find out, and his punishment would be worse than they could possibly imagine. Not again. Never ever again.
So instead, I lose my cool. "SHUT UP! The girl needs to die!" I'm sorry, Felix stiffens in surprise but says nothing. Alec whips his head around to stare at me. Now the Cullens, instead of being angry, are shocked. The blond boy with the scars and Edward seem to be in some kind of conversation with their eyes. I can't bring myself to look at the boy, knowing he will probably hate me now. And why SHOULD I CARE?
I hear the scream of the girl and look up. Felix is walking back; the newborn's body is broken in front of the boy. As I turn to walk away, I can't help but meet his eyes for a second. The happiness is gone, replaced by a conflicting storm of emotions, but sadness seems to win out in the end. I also meet Edward's eyes, the mind reader. He seems shocked and furious.
Seth's POV*
The battle with the newborns had ended well, with one even surrendering. She had lost a leg, and I chose to stay behind to help her. Suddenly, the spiky-haired girl stiffened, her voice cutting through the air. "They're coming." Seconds later, four vampires in hoods stepped out of the tree line, approaching at a rapid pace. They stopped in front of us and removed their hoods, and I was gone.
There were three male vampires, which I barely acknowledged. My eyes focused on her—a girl, small and short but breathtakingly beautiful. All vampires are beautiful, I knew, but she was easily the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. With golden blond hair tied up into a bun held in place by a ribbon, she was definitely younger than the Cullens. Her face still had a youthful roundness but couldn't be more than a year younger than me, maybe sixteen or seventeen. Her eyes were vibrant red, like roses or red velvet, framed by thick lashes and a cute button nose. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
Lucky for me, the newborn, or Brie as she was called, had managed to calm down, so I was helping her to her feet and didn't need to keep an eye on her. I focused all my attention on the beautiful girl. There was something so interesting, so captivating about every small move she made. Then our eyes met, and oh no—I imprinted.
Edward whips his head around to stare in absolute shock at me. I should be shocked too—she's a leech and the enemy—but it's her, not just a leech, her. She's different. She's my imprint. So instead, I smile happily at him because it appears I've lost control of my face!
The girl's eyes grow wide, and she seems to lose her train of thought for a moment. Then, to my dismay, she looks at her feet, away from me. She might not feel the imprint back, and that thought rocks me to my core. I look away, a knot forming in my throat. But I look up as she murmurs something to the boy next to her. Then, in a louder voice, she says, "It seems you missed one." Now all eyes are on me, but I can't meet their eyes—only hers. Edward snorts, and I choke back a growl. How dare he?
Focusing back on my imprint, I pour all the compassion into my gaze. I don't want her to kill the imprint. I can see her hesitating and the sadness in her eyes as she orders the big guard next to her to kill the newborn girl. I feel tears in my eyes—sadness for the newborn, my imprint, and that this is how we meet and that we can never be together.
Esme, people are talking around me, and I register none of it. I can only see her. Then she's leaving. The newborn, Bree, is dead at my feet, but just before she leaves, our eyes meet. She seems as sad as me, maybe even sadder. Then she's gone. A few seconds of peace pass while I try to ingrain every memory of her in my mind.
Then, "WHAT WAS THAT?" The mind reader explodes, turning to me with fury in his eyes. Everyone but the blond boy with the scars and his spiky-haired mate whirl around to gape at him.
"What is it, Edward?" the leader asks.
"Seth just imprinted on Jane Volturi," Edward says.
I sigh and nod my head. The gasps from the Cullens are audible. Their disapproval eats at me, but I don't care. I'm still so happy I found her. But there is another matter that needs to be addressed.
"Are you going to tell the pack?"
"No," the spiky-haired girl says. Now we all turn to her. "Don't tell the pack," she says to her family. "If the pack knew, war would be inevitable. Besides, she feels the imprint back," she says with a smile.
"Oh," was all I could manage to say. That was pleasant.
"So what do we do?"
Alice nods to herself, then out loud says, "We keep it a secret from the pack and you never see her again, Seth…"
To be continued
