Melina Caruso is an extraordinary human whose red lifeblood and gifted abilities brought unwanted attention to the world of immortality and ultimately sparked a race for blood, power and love.
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"They do not know that they seek only the hunt, not the prey."
- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
"I assumed you would have packed for your trip to Washington by now."
Startled, I looked up from my laptop and looked at my grandfather, looking curiously over my shoulder with a broad smile. His brown eyes looked over the selected articles and legends of different peoples and cultures, including the vampire stories of Volterra.
"Fascinating creatures...these vampires.".
"I find them frightening," I answered honestly after a while and carefully closed my laptop before turning to my grandfather. He was still examining my numerous written references and notes, which had been steadily accumulating on my desk for two days.
Many of them are marked with question marks and possible answers.
"A school project?" he asked curiously, but I shook my head.
"More of a personal interest," I replied hesitantly, stacking papers on top of each other. The highlighted word "singer" disappeared under blank sheets of paper.
My grandfather sighed softly before placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Your aunt called this morning. She's looking forward to seeing you," he said after a while, and I touched my forehead. Instantly, my thoughts filled with the words spoken in the vision.
"Our laws may protect her, but there will be no place in this world where she can be safe from me."
According to the preservation of both vampires in my vision, killing humans by their kind was forbidden within the city walls of Volterra, and my hours of fruitless searching for conspicuous murders or anomalies in recent years and decades also confirmed their statements for the time being.
Therefore, my great-grandmother and the rest of my family were safe for the time being.
Although my previous anxiety about the protection of my family gradually left me, other concerns immediately came to the fore.
Demetri.
Since the feast five days ago, his presence had been almost omnipresent.
Although my dreams and visions could not capture his every move, my mind felt his presence every night.
"They say that the blood of a singer is an experience to be savoured."
His words frightened me in many ways and intensified when I learned that I would soon have to leave Volterra at my grandparents' request. Despite its inhuman inhabitants, the city was a wall that kept me away from Demetri's wish.
In America, I would be entirely at his mercy.
"I haven't decided about my stay in Forks yet," I admitted quietly.
🙨
The afternoon sun poured onto the lush green of the surrounding meadow and shone down on the residents, care staff, and relatives sitting on the terrace. From where I sat, in the shade of a large oak tree and surrounded by bushes and shrubs, little warmth and rays reached the inside of the pavilion.
"Mary Alice...are you in thought?".
The small spoon in my hand froze as the swirls in my coffee cup dissipated. My great-grandmother sat across from me with a light blanket on her lap and smiled knowingly at me. With shaky hands, she reached for her sippy cup filled with black coffee.
"A little," I admitted, swirling the spoon absent-mindedly in my cup.
"Is it those girls from school again? Or our neighbours...?" she asked, her mouth twisted in disapproval. I looked at her with wide eyes, irritated, before slowly shaking my head.
"These people are unseemly and grotesque because they ignored your warnings and plunged themselves into misfortune. They spread these rumours...you should ignore them." she sighed.
"Mother and I have always said how special and unique you are, Mary Alice," she told me and began to stroke my skin with her wrinkled hand. I smiled and enjoyed her gentle touch, a rarity considering her condition.
After a few minutes, she stopped moving, and I could feel her hand tense up.
I turned my head with a jerk.
My great-grandmother's normally brown eyes looked unexpectedly colourless, almost milky.
"Great-grandmother?" I asked anxiously and stood up, the chair creaking under the stones.
"Cynthia?" I asked again, my voice echoing through the pavilion in panic, causing a few curious heads to turn towards us. My free hand immediately encircled her shoulder and gripped her muscles. Her torso moved sluggishly under my increasingly powerful movements.
"Signora... do you need help?" a man asked anxiously and quickly stepped closer.
I immediately turned away and looked at the man, my eyes distorted with fear, but before even a word of help could escape from my mouth in the direction of the staff, my great-grandmother gripped my previously caressed hand tightly.
She grabbed it trembling and pulled me towards her.
The veil around her brown eyes was visible, her voice tight.
"You must be careful, Mary Alice!" she hissed, and I blinked at her, startled.
"Red eyes... he's coming for you!".
Startled, my lips opened, seeing Demetri's unnatural red eyes before me.
"Red eyes...?" I mumbled incoherently, and the grip on my hand tightened almost painfully.
"I see him before me, sister. He resembles a predator, experienced in hunting...experienced in killing!" she rushed with her words and began to shake herself. Heart pounding, I desperately tried to stroke my great-grandmother's back soothingly with my free hand. My hands were soaked with sweat.
"Melina...?".
Distantly, my ears caught the worried cries and footsteps approaching us.
"He's caught your scent, Mary Alice!".
My attention turned back to Cynthia, whose shaking had gradually subsided. She looked at me anxiously.
"He will follow the scent of your blood, pursue you...hunt you.".
Goosebumps shook my body, while my grey-blue eyes couldn't avoid my great-grandmother's brown ones.
The two pairs of eyes remained fixed.
"His instincts are...demonic. His strength, speed, and endurance are superhuman, and his methods are ruthless," she said, as if through a multi-layered veil.
"Even if it's useless, sister...you must try to escape!" she said after a while, and the colour of her eyes strengthened, the dusky brown fading away.
"He's a tracker...tracker...tracker..." she repeated many times before her body gave out.
