Alec Volturi - July 8, 2016

It was nearly ten o'clock when my sister knocked on my door to see if I was ready. A few moments earlier, Demetri had come to see her to ask her to go to the Judgment Room and come with me. We didn't know why we had to go there, but for the whole guard to be summoned, it must have been very important.

I opened the door for my sister as I wore my black cloak that I wore when I traveled outside the castle, Jane wore her beautiful black hooded cloak like cape with her pendant that she had inherited at the same time as me, a very long time ago.

Our eyes met and she seemed preoccupied.

__ "Let's go my brother, let's not make our Master wait too long.''

I left my room, falling on our large living room that we shared since a long time ago, this living room was decorated with decorations coming from all the times that we had lived this last millennium. I closed my door noticing that my sister's at the other end of the room was already closed.

By mutual agreement we started to run in the direction of the Judgment Hall, closing our door behind us. It only took a few seconds before my hands pushed against the wooden door letting my sister into the Hall before me. Demetri and Felix were both waiting for us there, dressed in their gray coats, a color representing the degree of power in the clan; the black coat being those worn by the most powerful members.

Aro, Marcus, and Caius were all waiting there, by their black-clad thrones. Aro seemed completely preoccupied but seeing us arrive the tension left him.

__ "You must act immediately. A member of our clan was passing through the corner of a district of Pisa in Tuscany and saw an army of newborn killing almost a hundred humans. He told me a few minutes ago by calling here and you need to act quickly to have the mess cleaned up and find the culprits.''

We all nodded and Aro seemed to be thinking.

__ "Demetri take care of picking up scents and Felix, burn as many bodies as possible and prioritize those who can prove they died in strange circumstances. I wouldn't want humans to be alarmed. Getting there on the run should take you less than fifteen minutes, you're all very fast. Another witness mentioned to me that he was watching the surroundings and would warn if another attack would take place because we know what an army of newborn is capable of.''

It only took a few seconds that the four of us started to run outside our house in the direction of Pisa. For a person in a car the trip would have taken almost an hour but for beings as fast as us it would not take more than ten minutes. I was running alongside my sister who was as fast as me. Felix and Demetri were a meter behind us.

In just three minutes we had already gone a little further than the village of Lajaticco we did not speak at all we only ran, and we arrived in an extra minute in the village of Perignano, a place that Aro appreciates for their culture.

We didn't have time to observe the details around us, we just wanted to fix this problem as soon as possible.

I increased my speed tenfold to arrive quickly in the direction of Navaccchio, I did not want this vile army of newborns to escape leaving us only the choice to hunt them down all over Italy when they were going to leave additional corpses behind them.

I knew every corner of Italy having explored it in the last millennium. Once we got to Pisa, me and the Guard were running alongside each other.

__ "There's a strong smell of blood not far away, we're getting there." Said Felix.

__ "I'm going to start picking up scents.'' Demetri said and separated from us in the city.

Me and my sister followed each other side by side with no problem. Me and her already knew our role.

We stopped in the neighborhood of the massacre and my gaze fixed the corpses that were strewn on the ground. It was raining lightly but the rain wasn't a problem for us either.

Seeing all these humans decapitated and dead caused a feeling deep inside me, although the fate of these humans was insignificant to me, I found that our race at the beginning of its creation could do very horrible things.

Felix was already beginning to pile up human legs, arms, and heads as well as bodies visibly in very poor condition, he lit his lighter and started a fire and at a very rapid speed continued his task.

Only the newborns showed such ruthless butchery.

I heard a growl and turned around; a newborn was lurking in the shade. He looked at me and he growled, he started to run very quickly as I was going to use my sensory mist to anesthetize him but he avoided the smoke and he jumped on me knocking me to the ground and interrupting me in the use of my gift. I let out a moan as I hit the ground.

I stood up immediately and he was rushing at me again, his mouth stained with blood. I groaned in rage as he taunted me and I leaned over, spun around kicking him with my leg and knocking him to the floor.

He stayed on the ground for barely two seconds and got up to attack me, but he fell to the ground screaming in pain. I looked up at my sister to thank her and replaced my coat.

While almost all the limbs torn from humans were now in the fire leaving still a few forty bodies on the ground in not too bad a state, Felix arrived and took the newborn by the arms who was trying to struggle.

He would start screaming even louder under the effect of my sister's obscure gift which, with a simple look, could make you feel the worst suffering.

I approached the Vampire who was growling in pain.

__ "Jane, please stop.''

Almost immediately her grip on the vampire loosened. He stared at me with his red eyes.

__ "Who created you?" I questioned.

He looked at me straight in the eyes, his eyes filled with rage and began to growl.

__ "WHO created you?" I repeated harshly.

__ "I wouldn't...tell you anything..." he growled.

__ "Well... The insignificant little vampire won't say anything. Felix, could you take care of him please?'' I asked the vampire who was preventing any movement from the newborn.

__ " OK.'' he exclaimed.

I turned around and heard the vampire scream in pain, Jane playing with him again as Felix ripped his head off and threw it into the fire burning the flesh of his victims.

Felix continued to put limbs torn from the bodies of their owners into the fire. The smell of burnt flesh displeased me. I scanned the place inspecting if there was any newborn still around but no one.

__ "So many humans slaughtered on our lands... We must find the culprits." Said my sister arriving at my side.

I listened to what my sister was telling me and nodded. My sense of smell only caught the scent of blood and burnt flesh; my sight didn't help me find anyone except when I focused my hearing a faint heartbeat echoed in my ears.

Among the scores of victims who had not yet burned was one human still alive.

__ " Hold on. Can't you hear the heartbeat? I believe there's one of those people still alive..." I said to Jane.

One of these people could give information to Aro but would we be ready to do ten minutes of racing with a dying person under our nose?

I was ready, because seeing such a barbaric act deserved to be punished and I wanted to at least bring information to Aro so that he could help us find them, him being a great master who mastered the reading of the mind of a person.

I was going to Felix.

__ "Keep burning bodies but stay alert, there is still someone alive here."

__ "Do you think a mere human could help us identify bloodthirsty vampires? I say that we must burn them all to the last, including the living one." He quips and I nod my head in my sister's direction as Felix stares at the fire.

Come on sister, I don't like him challenging our authority.

Within moments Felix was falling to the ground, groaning. I glared at him angrily as Jane released her control over him after a few seconds. No one was to stand up to me.

__ "Felix, I gave you an order and you obey, burn those who present obvious traces of an attack made by a vampire. I have to bring evidence to Aro, and this human could be useful to him so be careful who you burn."

Felix nodded returning to his work at the end of my sentence, I hated when he discussed my orders. I walked quietly through the bodies; the stores lights were still on and my attention was on a store where the window in the door had exploded from a violent impact probably caused by a newborn. As I walked, relying on my hearing, my gaze fell on three bodies lying close together.

On the left was a young girl with a broken skull who must have died in excruciating pain. To the right was another dead girl, her head barely hanging on her body because her neck had been crushed. My attention was particularly focused on the young girl in the middle with a backpack which surprisingly was in good condition despite being soaked.

It was her, her heart beating weakly in her chest and her breathing was weak and broken. I lifted one of her arms, both were strewn with cuts resembling fingernail clippings, she also had traces of glasses in her skin that I could see with my magnified eyesight.

I felt the presence of my sister behind me who was probably watching the bodies in front of us and emitting a weary sigh. My gaze fell on the victim still alive, she seemed to have defended herself in order to live.

Resting her arm, I noticed that her wrist was broken and in a strange position. Indeed, these signs represented those of someone who had defended herself.

The smell of her blood hung in the air. The rain had calmed down now as her heartbeat had slowed down as if the two were perfectly coordinated.

Slowly I took her head and turned it, the vampire that attacked her was not a newborn. A newborn when he attacked was far more savage that was proven with the amounts of limbs and headless bodies that Felix must have burned but these three girls had wounds that a mature vampire would be more likely to do with an effect of anger or hunting.

I stared at her neck wound which was torn and bleeding out. I gave her thirty minutes at most before she died. My ears twitched as I heard police sirens blaring. I lifted her body; her backpack fell to the ground and I also grabbed it to put it on my back so as not to leave any evidence of her presence here.

__ "We have to leave; the police are coming. Enough bodies have been burned; we won't have time to burn the others."

My sister stared at me.

__ "You really intend to take this human to Aro, her heart is barely beating. It might let go on the way."

__ "If that's the case, we'll get rid of her body, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. She wasn't attacked by a newborn; it was obviously a mature vampire that attacked the humans around here and I wish Aro could find some images in her memories before she died."

Felix had been attentive to my words and approached us. Demetri came back to our side. Not questioning the fact that I had a human in my arms because he must have heard the conversation.

__ "I sniffed out a few smells that will stick with me for when we exterminate them. I searched everywhere to track them and it's as if a vampire among them had a gift to block their essences to make them invisible because their track eventually fades. I don't know which way they went. I should come back to the area tomorrow night."

__ " Perfect." I replied to Demetri, our tracker.

I could still hear the police sirens coming in our direction, one more minute and lots of humans would arrive here. We also had to hurry for this girl, if she died, we would lose the only witness to this massacre.

__"Jane, Demetri, Felix, we have to leave quickly." I exclaimed.

__"Okay, you're the boss, let's go!" Said Felix and he disappeared.

It only took a microsecond for me, my sister and Demetri to all leave together. I held the girl's head in my coat because I didn't want the speed at which I was running to finish her off. Her heart was beating gently, all the way back I concentrated on seeing if she was still breathing and if her pulse was still beating.

I briefly heard from afar, the sirens stop, and the police, firefighters and paramedics take care of the crisis that we had to manage before them.

A feeling deep inside me arose as if I cared about the fate of this human. As I ran my gaze would drop to her as she was curled up against my coat, I'm going to have to wash it off as her blood was dripping onto my coat, but I didn't care about the situation, it was just blood.

I wondered what color her eyes were. I erased that thought from my head. Why did I care about a mere human? I stared at Jane who was staring ahead and had her hair flying in the air. She looked up at me and rolled her eyes.

__ "Her smell bothers me and makes me thirsty. I can't wait for you to get rid of that Alec."

I heard Felix's laugh, which confirmed that her smell of blood was also making him thirsty. Demetri confirmed having the same desire. I understood them because I was thirsty too, but I held myself back to preserve her until our arrival.

__ "What would you like to drink anyways? She barely has a liter of blood left and if you concentrate, she has anemia. You're more likely to drink water than blood cause her blood vessels produce water in it to help during the production of red blood cells. " I said.

__ "Well, well, well, the scientist is speaking now." My sister said teasingly.

I had read so many books on all subjects that I knew a lot and one thing I was sure of was I had to keep this young girl alive if possible so that Aro could use his gift on her.

I listened to her heartbeat as I ran as we were about six minutes away from Volterra, her pulse was very weak, and her breath caught occasionally causing her to cough weakly.

__ "I'll go faster, she doesn't have much time left."

I started running so fast that I overtook the others. Aro would be angry if he couldn't find the culprit and this girl might be able to help him.

I arrived near our castle and while I ran, I stopped in front of a door, guards recognizing me opened the door to me, but their glance remained fixed on the human body in my arms.

__ "Hands off, control yourself!"

And I disappeared down the hallway of the stairs. I knew that next to my apartment that I shared with my sister was an average bedroom that hadn't been used for over two hundred years.

I opened the door and hurriedly put her on the bed. With my hearing I focused and heard her heartbeat slowing to nothingness.

__ "Oh no, I didn't carry you fifty miles for your heart to give out now before I informed Aro of your presence."

I locked the door, turned back to the girl, and put the bag on the floor. I growled; do I really have to come to this?

I was concentrating and indeed felt a very little quantity of the venom inside her. That's why she was still alive otherwise she would have died a long time ago. The venom kept her alive except that I noticed that there was very little of it, not even a milliliter, and that she was going to succumb to her injuries. The venom had only delayed her death.

I approached her wrist and sighed hoping that this gesture would not fall on me. I opened my mouth and brought it up to her arm and sank my fangs into it.

I was concentrating on not drinking her blood but only giving her venom, it was a very difficult ordeal to contain myself but after a few seconds I was peeling off the additional wound that I had just done to her, but it was the one that was going to keep her alive.

I could already hear her heart beating go faster, an almost silent sound was occurring inside her, the venom was attacking her red blood cells, freezing them little by little. I felt that the transformation was beginning. I felt her whole body which seemed to undergo a shock which it did not understand.

She let out a groan keeping her eyes closed, the pain caused by the transformation is of such intensity that despite the loss of consciousness, the body can have reactions to the pain.

I focused all my senses on her as the transformation took over her being. The venom coursed through her veins, her organs, and everything human inside her.

I focused my sight and at the tears in her clothes and at her arms, I pulled out pieces of glass that I threw in the trash can next to the bed.

She had eight pieces of glass, inside her I could hear her blood freezing and hardening like that of vampires. Her transformation had begun and although she was not moving, I imagined the ordeal and the pain she had to endure reminding myself of the moment of my transformation.

I grabbed a towel that was lying on the desk. There were some in every room and I was laying it against her neck wound which had stopped bleeding, staring at her blood. It was starting to petrify. Strange, I did not remember that a transformation could take place so quickly.

The beating of her heart broke my eardrums, it beat very quickly proving the pain she was going through deep inside her. The door tried to open but since it was locked it stayed closed.

__ "What do you want Jane?" I asked.

__ "Did you tell Aro that she was here?" asked my sister.

__ "Could you do it for me please. I have to supervise her."

__ "Okay, as long as it can be over quickly." If she knew.

I could hear Jane speeding off. Deep inside I was stressing and wondering if I had done the right thing to give her the bite. Will she be too wild? I had never turned anyone into a vampire, and I had never been responsible for training one...I hoped that this ordeal for us would go well because if something happened following her transformation, I would be held responsible.

Her heartbeat was stable for now but continued to beat very fast. I sighed and put my hand on her arm activating my gift in my palm and numb all her senses including her pain. Her heartbeat immediately calmed down.

I heard the door unlock. Aro had the keys to the whole castle, I didn't turn my head to him, afraid he might be angry with me. He was there behind me.

__ "Oh... Alec, what happened there?"

I turned to him keeping my hand on the young girl so that she wouldn't suffer more than she had already experienced. I sighed trying to find my words.

__ "She was the only survivor. More than seventy victims and she was the only one. I thought bringing her here might help you."

Aro approached the girl and stared at her. He seemed curious about our new guest.

__ "Her bites, they don't bleed and are slowly closing." He noticed and he stared at me asking me lots of questions with his eyes.

__ "I bit her Master to give her the venom she needed to start her transformation. She was going to die, and I didn't want that. Jane suggested that you read her mind and then let her die, but I couldn't bring myself to this solution." Aro smiled slightly.

__ "I see that you really wanted to give her immortality if you ran fifty miles with a bleeding human in your arms."

I was thinking about this, and he was right. Aro leaned over the bed and stared at her.

__ "The smell of her blood is special. I don't know how you manage to stand so close to her after biting her. Did you find any newborns besides this human?"

I didn't want to explain the whole situation to Aro so I just held out my hand so he could see tonight's event from start to finish and he didn't hesitate to take it. When he let go of my hand, his gaze fixed on mine.

__"Oh my, I didn't expect the attack to be this big. I'll have to send some guards to hunt them down to prevent more bloodshed on our lands." Aro stared at me. "I wouldn't send you there, you're already going to have a lot to deal with her."

He was talking about the one I had bitten. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the one on her broken wrist, but it seemed to be healing, her other arm was me touching it to ease the pain. He was concentrating on using his gift.

__ "Let's see, who we have here. Roxanne Williams. She is seventeen years old and comes from Seattle, the dear territory of the Cullen’s. But what was she doing in Italy? Graduation trip, which unfortunately ended badly for her and her two friends..."

I just thought her two friends were the ones by her side in the lifeless neighborhood. They were all American and looked alike.

__ "I see, oh how strange... For a human she has an eye for detail. She remembers every detail of the one who attacked her, and her attacker had fun making her suffer little by little, it's been a long time since I've seen him." Aro turned to me continuing to read Roxanne's thoughts. "Your guesses were correct Alec; she was attacked by the army chief. Do you remember Jeremy? We had exterminated his wife and the immortal child she had created. We did him a favor that day. I'm surprised Demetri didn't come to me and tell me it was him, maybe he found a way to hide his scent."

Aro stared at Roxanne who stood there without moving.

__ "I'm intrigued by her, some of her thoughts are locked as if she's forgotten something or experienced something that her brain can't remember. I hope her parents and her brother won't be a problem in her evolution among us, they tend to worry and might try to look for her."

The door opened and Jane entered.

__ "Sister, could you bring her some clothes please? She is obviously the same height as you." I asked my sister.

__ "It would be useless, she will die." Jane said.

Aro let go of Roxanne's hand and turned to Jane.

__ "Your dear brother gave her the bite, so no she's not going to die today."

Jane's eyes were on me, and she seemed angry and wanted to use her gift on me. She totally disagreed with my decision. Her thoughts were very dark.

__ "Jane, please get her some clothes and get her changed." Aro said in a simple voice.

At Aro's words she let go of me with the thundering look she gave me. She was always going to obey Aro's orders. She disappeared from the room and returned about fifteen seconds later with clothes in her hands. Aro stared at Jane.

__ "You're not doing anything to her. I'm intrigued by who she is.'' Aro said.

Jane just nodded. I followed Aro to the large library which was on our left a little further from here. Jane was going to come back to me on the subject, it was obvious, but she wouldn't speak in front of Aro.

I arrived in the large library in the company of Aro who settled in his chair. I remained standing planted near the door. Caius turned to me.

__ "Why do you have blood on you? The smell is very strong."

Aro turned to Marcus and Caius.

__ "We are going to welcome a newborn here." Aro said. "Alec transformed one of the injured victims and her thoughts have served me well and I know who we're dealing with now."

Caius stared at me briefly as I remained unmoved.

__ " Who? " Marcus said.

__ "Jeremy."

__ "Did that rat really came back to mock us after you let him go?" Caius spat hating him. He no longer had his attention on me.

Caius had not been happy that Aro had decided to keep Jeremy alive, Caius had used Jane's gift to make him suffer and wanted Felix to exterminate him but since he had the gift of being able to pass through the walls, this one was interesting in the eyes of Aro who hoped to give him clemency one day to have him in his guard.

He hadn't created the immortal child and Aro had judged him innocently but I already knew that after creating an army of newborns and releasing them in Italy, Aro would never forgive him despite his gift that was not one of the most useful to attack or defend his clan.

Aro turned to me and the gaze of our two other masters also fell on me. Aro smiled.

__ "Go take care of the recovery of your newborn and come to introduce her to us when she has become an immortal." Aro told me.

__ "You can leave Alec. Don't deceive us." Caius said.

__ "Thank you for being with us, my dear Alec." Marcus said.

I turned around and left the library. I went towards my room, but I finally continued my way and I was going to see the human briefly.

Jane had cleaned her skin and I could see that her wounds were starting to heal slowly thanks to my venom. I felt the transition in her which had advanced considerably.

__ "I can't wait to meet you, Roxanne."

I closed the door, went to my room. I took off my coat which had blood on it and threw it in the basket at the back of the room. I couldn't imagine her thirst taking over as she smelled her own human blood. I put on a brown shirt and another black coat.

I also changed my pants for another black pair but took the same belt. I mustn't smell human blood so as not to drive her crazy.

I settled into my bed with a book to think about something else. I could barely read my book with her heartbeat. I was just sitting on my bed and staring into space. I waited and waited and just waited for hours listening to her heartbeat that was on the other side of my wall.

It was now a bright sun outside; the night and the morning had passed so quickly, and it was always the case when I froze in my thoughts. I was like a stone statue just listening to the music produced by her still functioning organ and thinking about meeting us once she was awake.

When suddenly, the beating of her heart decreased, I froze and looked at the time on my clock... Her transformation had only lasted twelve hours in total because it had passed ten o'clock in the morning. Usually, it took more or less three days. Her heartbeat continued to slow until it stopped completely. I couldn't hear her heartbeat or breathing anymore.

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