Infinite Bliss || Volturi Kings

|1| ARRIVAL

Finally finding the perfect parking space, Alice hopped gracefully out of the yellow Porsche and into the sea of people dressed in red, opening the back door and tugging Eliana out with her.

"Come on, we don't have long," Alice said impatiently as she grabbed her by the hand and dragged her through the centre of Volterra.

Eliana was so focused on keeping up with Alice's quick steps and not getting left behind that she didn't even argue back. Her shoes scuffed along the pavement as the sun beat down on their heads, not that it bothered Alice at all since she had a scarf over her head.

Eliana, however, was human, and therefore found the stifling heat very uncomfortable to say the least, especially with that many bodies crammed so close together. She'd already experienced a little motion sickness in the car journey there, so the baking heat really wasn't helping.

Eventually, they reached the clock tower at the other side of the square. Alice unlocked and shoved open the heavy-looking wooden door.

"Come on, guys." Alice stepped through and removed her scarf, Eliana following along just behind. "It's a festival. You wouldn't want to make a scene."

Eliana wasn't entirely sure what she'd just wandered into, but she was very much certain that she wanted to turn around and leave, right there and then. As well as Bella and Edward just beside her, there were now two more vampires in front of them, these two being tall and intimidating men who regarded her with their red eyes as if she was food. In fairness, she was food to them.

The tallest one raised an eyebrow at her before turning his gaze back to Alice. "We wouldn't."

"Enough."

Another figure was approaching from down the corridor, although fortunately this one was much shorter. She pushed the hood of her black cloak off her head, revealing her honey blonde hair and startling red eyes.

"Jane," Edward muttered.

Eliana's eyebrows furrowed together. "Jane? Who's Jane-?"

"Shush," Alice interrupted quietly.

Jane smirked at her evilly for a moment. "Aro sent me to see what was taking so long. Bring both humans," she ordered.

The girl, who couldn't have been physically older than 13, spun on her heel and started back down the hall. Edward followed first, with Bella clinging to his arm. Bella glanced back between Alice and Eliana, as if asking for help, but the latter simply shrugged.

"Just do as she says," Alice whispered to her. "And Eli, stick with me. Don't draw attention to yourself."

Nodding her head, Eliana took Alice's arm and walked closely to her. They passed the other two vampires, who only intimidated her further, causing her to hide her face in Alice's shoulder.

They were led through the castle that was the Volturi headquarters. When Alice had mentioned the Volturi, Eliana hadn't quite been expecting this much grandeur and, well . . . this many immortals in one place.

One short elevator ride later—which she spent squished between Alice and the shorter male vampire behind her—the group exited into a lobby, with a very human receptionist at the main desk who stood up to greet them.

"She's more . . . alive than I would've expected," Eliana whispered, causing the taller guy behind her to chuckle quietly.

"Is she human?" Bella asked Edward.

"Yes," he replied.

There was a pause. "Does she know?"

"Yes," he said again.