Second Time Around (Volturi Tales)

9

Holly nervously paces back and forth watching the doctor working on her brother. Max hasn't spoken a word which Holly found to be very concerning. Holly never knew her brother to be silent and that was terrifying to her or maybe it was the three vampires standing still as statues in the corner that were scaring her. It was hard to pinpoint which was the scariest at the moment. Aro moved forward speaking to the doctor in Italian only to stop after a couple steps, a frown appearing on his pale face. "Dearest you have no need to be afraid. No one is going to harm you." Holly hadn't realized she had taken equal steps backwards as Aro had approached them.

"Yeah sure," She murmured as if she was going to believe anything these......things said. Ok Demetri has been ok but the rest Holly didn't want anything more to do with them. Max moaned as the doctor examined his arm, the sound made Holly forget about the vampires for a moment and she moved forward scooping up Max's good hand into hers. "It's ok Max, I'm here." She whispered hoping it would offer some form of comfort.

Holly could have cried in frustration as the doctor questioned her in Italian. Aro didn't move any closer but he did insert himself as a translator as he informed her of the steps the doctor was taking. She watched as pain killers were given, the bone was sent and the cast was being applied. Holly could do nothing but stand by holding Max's hand, at some point Max's eyes closed, he had fallen asleep most likely thanks to the painkillers, at least he looked peaceful. The room was dead silent other than the doctor working. Holly chose to focus on that and ignore the three vampires as best she could.

When the doctor was done his work Holly all but begged the man to stay with her. As Aro thanked the doctor at which point, to Holly's horror Demetri exited with the Doctor leaving her alone with a passed-out brother and two vampires that just stood there staring at her. 'Please god let them leave,' she whispered a small prayer under breath.

"I will never again leave your side, my love." Marcus was now directly in front of her causing Holly to jump back in a blink of an eye Aro was now there as well murmuring to Marcus much too low for Holly to hear. They seem to be arguing Marcus' face looks annoyed as Aro turns to her with a Cheshire cat smile on his face.

"Young Holly, so much has happened is such a short amount of time hasn't it? I am sure this is a lot for your young mind to process, I think we need to start over, a clean slate." Aro said, giving a small chuckle as Holly clung tighter to Max's arm as her only salvation. Aro studied the pair of them for a moment. "I forgot how long it takes your kind to mend and yet you all break so easily......ironic isn't it?" Aro just shakes his head, all Holly could do was stare at him. Marcus stands behind Aro's shoulder studying her with a pouting expression. "Ah, sweet Holly I promise one day we will all laugh about these little hiccups. What can we do to make you more comfortable here? Our only wish is to make you happy, so dearest name it and it shall be yours."

"I.....I..." Holly stammered

"Other than leaving here of course." Aro interrupted her, Holly found herself torn between being scared out of her mind and full of were a million questions. Why were they so strong? How was this all possible? "How.......what did those kids do to us?"

"There is so much to explain." Aro said with a smile, "Would you like to sit?" Holly only shakes her head, holding onto her brother's hand seemed to be the only thing keeping her from completely breaking down into a weeping mess. Max was her stone that kept her together. She had to stay strong for him. She had to protect him.

"As we have explained to you earlier we are for lack of a better term vampires, personally I never care for the term but it is what your kind calls us." Aro takes to pacing in front of her, reminding Holly of her history teacher as Mr. Cole as he explains the causes of the Great Depression. "Marcus and I understand that this will be hard for you to accept, as a human you have spent your life believing you are the top of the food chain. Well that is simply not true, we vampires are superior in every way." Aro's smugness was digging at Holly, sure from what she saw she would agree these vampires did have superior abilities but still Aro didn't have to be so braggy about it. From what she's seen so far Holly happened to prefer being human over beings, some space invading, hostage taking, brother hurting vampire.