Point of View of Roxanne Williams - July 9th 2016

__ "You have become a vampire just like me and my coven." was the end of the sentence he had just spoken.

I took a few steps back, completely shocked by his answer, trying to make connections in my memory: I stopped breathing, I shone in the sun, I heard and saw better and above all I managed to run at an incredible speed.

These were all newly acquired abilities and being a vampire seemed to make sense with everything I had experienced since waking up. He was still staring at me, leaning against the stone wall. He said those words to me like it was the most natural thing in the world for him. The reflection of his skin shining in the sun confirmed to me that this was not a dream and what other creature could have such deep red eyes?

__ "You...probably had no trouble finding me then if you're like me." He nodded and got back on his two feet.

__ "We are not totally identical. I'm a vampire that would be described as mature. With... age, I have calmed down and have control over myself and my emotions. You, on the other hand, are only in the early hours of your new life. You are still very out of control, and you need training on our race and how to deal with yourself internally, which I will be in charge of. The slightest clash could trigger a tantrum that would be dangerous, you are what we call a newborn. You're at the same stage as those who attacked you in this neighborhood last night."

I thought about what he was telling me.

__ "But what is the difference between you and me?"

__ "Let's go inside, I'll ask you to follow me so that our conversation takes place in a more appropriate venue." He speaks.

He opened the door making me pass in front of him and as soon as the door was closed, he arrived at my side. I smelled his scent, it was delicate and reminiscent of a smell of cotton fields, although I had never visited one, the smells on him were so captivating.

__ "The difference between us being simply that a thirsty newborn released into the wild is ruthless and cannot control himself. Like that army you saw in your last human moments, they had been left on their own to commit this carnage. Your strength and your speed being even faster than ours, your thirst in the face of human blood is amplified and you must not be in contact with humans except for obvious reasons which are to feed you. Here in Volterra you are not going to hunt on the territory, our masters make sure with a team to find human beings all over the world and bring them to us to eat. It is part of our rules to ensure that our race remains secret from mortal eyes."

I listened to him briefly as he stared in front of him but lost myself in his words as my thoughts only focused on groups of words he had spoken.

Human Blood. Thirst. Hunt. Eat.

A slight growl passed between my lips; my throat was burning. My hand slipped to my throat, and I stared at Alec, the taste of blood intrigued me and I absolutely wanted to drink it. This thought did not leave my mind and I found myself having some tremors at the bottom of my being.

Alec turned to me and stared at me. His eyes opened wide.

__ "You must learn to control your thirst, come with me." He said.

He grabbed my arm and started to run, my body following him at the same speed or even almost faster. We arrived in a hallway and get down the stairs very quickly while he stopped dead in front of a door my race continued, and I had difficulty braking due to the burn in my throat. I slammed into a wall and leaned my head against it trying to pull myself together as I was starting to really feel the burn in my throat taking advantage on me.

A growl escaped my throat as in my head I imagined myself jumping at someone's throat to drain their blood. Roxanne pull yourself together.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned quickly grabbing the hand violently and jerking it away from me, I saw it was Alec as he stepped straight in front of me again. I sighed letting a low growl escape my teeth.

__ "Sorry, that was not intended. I don't know what's going on, I feel..."

__ "Come with me." He said simply, obviously he had no grudge against my violent gesture. "You're thirsty, that's completely normal."

He held out his hand and I took it. He directed me to a door and opened it. We walked inside and he told me to sit on the chair.

He opened the door to a large container that looked like a fridge. This one seemed to be cold but it was not plugged into a source of electricity.

A weird metallic smell comparable to iron invaded the room.  The smell however made me want to growl even more.

Alec pulled out a thick bag, filled with a red substance that I identified exactly as the source of all that I desired in this moment. He turned to me.

__ "This is what you need."

__ "No... I mustn't indulge myself in this. I will be damned."

Alec let out a weary sigh. He closed the fridge door and stared at the pouch, he ripped a tube off the top and the smell of blood filled the room.

He handed me the pouch which I stared at for a long time and with a slight hiss my hand reached out quickly taking the blood pouch from his hands and immediately the blood ran down my throat filling it with a hot, metallic tasting liquid.

The taste was so good. Within seconds the blood bag was empty, and I stared at it. The burning in my throat was gone.

Alec, who was now next to me, took the empty blood bag and headed towards a sort of smoking room because I could feel the heat of the flames in it.  He opened it as I watched the fire and he put the bag inside to burn it.

__ "I know you're confused; we all were when we started. I'm in a good position to know how you feel inside of you. From now on, it is my responsibility to be there for you and you will have to listen to me carefully to integrate well here."

I nodded and stood up. I stared at him.

__ " Thanks for your help. I feel much better. This burning in my throat was unbearable and forgive me again for being violent with you when you only wanted to help me."

He raised his hand in peace.

__ "Don't worry, I've been through a lot worse than a minor collision. It's already forgotten." He said and that reassured me. "Now I'm going to introduce you to some people. They are the masters of places. The reason I brought you here was to help our Master Aro find the culprits of the attack that took place in the neighborhood you were visiting. During your transition he read your thoughts and find out who attacked you, he is well known to everyone here and we already have people who are on his trail to find him." He said.

__ "Masters?" I asked.

__ " Yes. You are not part of a random coven. You are in the coven that maintains the safety of our secret in the world of Vampires. We make sure that attacks like the one that happened yesterday don't happen again by finding the culprits and together with the members of our Coven we make sure to uphold the laws the masters set up a long time ago... You will meet them soon enough there is Aro, you will recognize him with his long hair and his attitude... How can I say? Extravagant. He can't wait to see you. There is Marcus who is the one with a little older appearance and who is very calm. Finally, there is Caius, he is the only one with blond hair. I advise you not to look for him too much because he can let go of his anger very easily." I nodded.

__ "Okay, I understand."

He opened the door and led me past him.

__ "Follow me, we'll go to the left to take a shortcut."

He took off running and I followed him back to where I was earlier trying to calm down when I had my altercation with Alec. When we turned to the right, I saw another staircase that we hurried up, I was concentrated in the details of the stone walls and the frames hanging on the wall, I observed the smallest details. Everything was so old here.

__ "Roxanne, stop."

I turned to Alec continuing to run, he had stopped near a door and when I turned again in front of me, I only had time to see another wall in which I ran, and it made a noise like two stones hitting each other. I had no pain though.

__ "Tell me, all our senses are heightened, but are our weaknesses too? I don't think I got rid of my clumsiness."

__ "You will soon adapt to your new abilities." He said almost in a whisper, but I heard him despite the great distance that separated us.

Alec smiled and motioned for me to follow him. I ran to him, and he was helped me to stop. He knocked on the door as we heard a voice allowing us to enter.

Alec opened the door and stepped into the door frame.

__ "She is here Master."

__ "We had indeed heard that she was there." Said a voice filled with irony.

__ "Bring her in my dear Alec!" Said a honeyed voice.

Alec was pushing open the door and stepping off the door frame. I moved forward staring at the scenery that presented itself to me. Huge shelves of books that went to the ceiling with in each of them books by thirty. There were so many shelves, my attention was on most of them that had such fine and stunning detail bindings.

A faint sound of snapping fingers directed my attention straight ahead where three men stared at me sitting in front of me near a large wooden table whose carved details fascinated me.

A man with long hair was staring at me and a slight smile graced his lips. His hand was up in the air in the finger snap position that caught my attention, he was holding a red bound book in his other hand.

__ "Welcome in the family, Miss Williams."

So, it was him Aro, I remembered Alec telling me that he had read my thoughts when I was unconscious probably giving him access to my identity and many others informations that I didn't know.

I stared at Alec, who smiled at me and disappeared running down the left lane.

__ "Take a seat, will you?" He told me, pointing to the chair next to him.

I stared at the wooden chair, intending to sit on it, and within moments I was sitting on it. The sound of wood sliding on the stone floor had not been discreet and all eyes were on me. I was embarrassed.

__ "Don't worry, it's not clumsiness, you'll control your speed better over time." Aro mentioned, referring to the moment I crashed into the wall. They had all heard me. "Alec explained to you what happened to you."

__ " Yes, indeed."

__ "Know that the injustice you experienced last night will be punished. It is forbidden to create an army of newborns and it is forbidden to hunt on our territory. Thus, whoever is responsible for these crimes will be highly punished. We are sorry that one of ours could have acted in this way towards you and your companions."

My gaze fell to my hands. Magalie and Jennifer didn't make it out alive, that was a fact. My gaze shifted to Aro.

__ "I allowed myself to read some of your thoughts during your transition to get to know you and by the same token I knew that the man who attacked you, this dear Jeremy, was responsible for these crimes. My hunters will be on the ground as soon as night falls to find him."

__ "He deserves to die." I whispered which Aro couldn't miss.

__ "Indeed, forgiveness is no longer relevant for him."

__ " I told you." Mentioned the blond-haired man as he stared at Aro.

I tried not to stare at him too much because he didn't seem to like my gaze on him.

__ "I know my brother but now we can't go back. Hopefully he makes a mistake, and our tracker can find him." Aro said softly to Caius who turned his attention back to his book.

__ "A tracker? What is it?" I asked.

__ "Well, my dear being a tracker is a gift. Alec probably forgot to mention this to you, but when we awaken as Vampires some of us have a gift. Like me, of reading minds." I nodded having understood that part. "But there are many gifts, and the tracker allows you to find a person simply by the essence they give off, you can latch onto that essence and follow the person anywhere on Earth as soon as you pick up their scent..."

__ "Do all vampires have one?" I asked.

__ "Unfortunately, not, this characteristic is linked to the vampire who possesses it. Our qualities, characteristics are amplified during our rebirth and for example let's take Marcus next to me..." He pointed at me a man who nodded in my direction. "Marcus has always shown a lot of empathy during his human life and felt the emotional connections of people. He had a very developed intuition. By becoming a Vampire this human ability has developed into a gift that allows him to feel the links between people. He can identifies in a few seconds the relationships between people." He continued.

I smile, this gift is something great.

__ "It's a remarkable gift." I say to Marcus who smiles at my compliment.

As Aro and Marcus stared at me my gaze dropped to my hands which were infinitely soft. I hadn't even taken the time to analyze myself and that's when I noticed for the first time that I was wearing a silky soft black dress. How could I have missed this detail? I lifted the fabric of the dress to slide it against my fingers.

__ "Our dear Jane, took care of changing your clothes during your last sleep. You couldn't keep your old clothes that were in bad shape."

I still wore my blue necklace with a dreamcatcher, but it was inside my dress, I took it out of it, placing it delicately on my dress. The charm with the letters BFF was visible near the chain. I was surprised he survived the attack. Aro stared at my necklace.

__ "We will do everything to avenge what happened to you all. This massacre was only an atrocity that had no place to be. But I have a request for you. Could I read your thoughts again? I had interrupted myself when I identified the criminal, but I would appreciate knowing you a little more." He asked.

__ "Of course, but how?" I asked in turn.

__"Just give me your hand." He says.

I raised my left hand to his and pointed it at him. He gently grabbed my hand and his were cold... As much as mine, our temperature were the same.

He stared at me, and I didn't know what he saw in me. After a minute he withdrew his hand. He smiled and stood up.

__ "You fascinate me, some of your thoughts have a padlock on them and I can't access them even when you're awake. However, I have seen your entire life and your best moments as well as your worst, but despite my mental efforts I cannot access some of your thoughts."

__ "I don't know why. I don't even know what it is." I said.

__ "Let's ignore it for now, I'll drive you back to Alec since you don't know the whole castle. Come with me."

I stood up and concentrated on taking it easy and pushed the chair back. I concentrated on my steps and walked slowly towards the entrance; my body was begging me to start running fast but I didn't want to. I walked through the door and Aro closed it behind us.

__ "I hope that your adaptation among us will be positive. You intrigue me and I come to wonder if you have a gift too. I look forward to seeing your progress among us." He says.

We walked quietly down the hall. I stared at his delicate footsteps trying to walk the same way to control my speed and Aro looked down at me.

__ "Let's pick up some speed, shall we?" I nodded.

He started to run towards the corridor, and I started to follow him, I quickly passed him in a very fast way. As I climbed the stairs and sharply turned corners, I realized that I was well past Aro.

Towards the penultimate staircase I tried to stop myself so as not to jump over the metal railing and rush into the window in front of me, it was only at the last moment that he grabbed me by the collar of the dress to hold me back.

Aro was there, a smirk on his face.

__ "Well, I wonder if clumsiness isn't your gift."

A soft groan escaped my lips and delicately he smiled.

__ "I am teasing you my dear Roxanne." He said.

I understood but I didn't like people laughing at my weaknesses. I did my best to do like the others and not make mistakes.

I contented myself with climbing the last steps slowly. Aro stood next to me and led me down the hall. We crossed a long wall with almost no door before arriving at the first one we could see. No need to knock, it opened on Alec.

__ "I'll take you back Miss Williams, have a nice evening you two." Aro said and Alec thanked him.

I turned around but he had already disappeared. Alec opened the door for me, and I looked at him.

__ "What did he tell you?" Alec asked me, with a thoughtful look.

__ "Not much but he mentioned that clumsiness was probably my gift for teasing myself." Alec let out a small laugh.

Suddenly my eyes fixed on his room.

__ "It's huge here! " I said.

__ "This is the large living room that I share with my sister Jane."

__ "Oh, Jane is related to you? Aro mentioned to me that she was the one who changed me. I found it dark but pretty."

__ "Are you talking about my sister or the dress?" Alec asked smiling.

__ "I haven't met her yet unfortunately."

__ "She's not in her room, she must probably be somewhere in the building. Come between."

I walked into the room and stared at the decorations. Everything was clean and in its place. I noticed that the living room had large swanky antique sofas and a large flat screen TV on the wall. At the back of the room was an old wooden bookcase with several books.

__ "There is a lot of books in this castle.

__ "Reading is one of our main occupations. The place where you've been on the second floor was their personal library, they also have on that floor an office with books but not that much as there are in the library. All members of the Coven read."

I approached a couch.

__ "What are these two doors for?"

__ "On the left is Jane's room, on the right is mine. Your room is on the other side of my wall. I heard you when you woke up, that's why I came to see you."

__ "Okay, can I borrow a book please?" I said, Alec nodded.

I headed calculating my steps towards the library and looked at the bindings of the books. Some were recent. Alec seemed to have several literary styles.

I grabbed a yellow book that I recognized. Agatha Christie's and Then There Were None. A book that my father found fascinating because of its description of the characters and places as well as the subject of the novel. I had never read it and considered that I should read it in his memory.

__ "You can stay here for your reading, if you have any questions I'll be in my room."

__ "Ok thank you."

I sat down on the couch and started reading. Alec had gone to his room and closed the door.

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