Gabriel (Book 1)

Butterfly...

May 1st, 2011

I can't believe its been six days, it only feels like six hours! I've had the time of my un-dead life here! We party and drink all day and party harder all night! The music is great, the food is great and the people are great! Rodrick says that I fit in perfectly here, and I feel that too. I even adopted a "costume". Its become our inside joke since mortals have this insane idea of how vampires look and what they like. If I could make one thing clear to the humans, it would be: Just because your abnormally pale, like to wear black, and listen to heavy metal music doesn't make you a vampire!

Hah!

Anyway, its about 2 hours after sunrise, and the guys and I just finished another game of poker. I tell them I'm going to get some Jack Daniels but I also want to know what happened to Brielle. I grab my drink and start wandering around the back looking for her. Eventually, I find her sitting on the floor with her knees under her chin.

"What's up?" I ask her as I sit down next to her.

"Nothing," she replies quietly.

"Hey! You never told me what your power is!"

"Mass destruction," she says as a butterfly settles into the palm of her hand.

"I don't get-"

"Have you every heard of the 'chaos theory'?" I shake my head, "Well, this is how it goes: 'It has been said something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.'" She pauses and thinks, "And I get to be that butterfly." She says as she crushes the small creature in her hand.

"That's a really awesome power. We could have used you when we took down the Volturri."

"What?! Whose 'we'?! You killed the Volturri?!" She yells standing up.

"What?! Did I say 'we'? I didn't mean it. I meant I." I try to cover it up. I can't believe i let that slip! Crap!

"No. You definitely said 'we'." She warns.

"Just forget about that. Look on the bright side; the Volturri are dead!"

"I can't believe you really killed them! Wait until Rodrick hears about this!" Her voice then gets quieter, more normal, "He likes you, ya know. He never speaks out loud to any of us but he speaks to you. He trusts you. But he isn't the only one who is happy you are still here." She says while placing her hand on my chest.

Her hand just misses my scars and I let out a sigh of relief.

"I've had these feelings for you, and I'm not sure what they are."

"Love?" I ask.

"Love? I want you to be my mate. There is something about you, a power inside and a royal exterior. The way you are, its like you were a king or something."

"Nope. I'm just plain old me." I say as I finish the last of Jack Daniels.

"Well I like it. Don't let anyone change you."

Our bodies get this weird buzz and we can tell the sun has gone down.

"Time to party." She says as her fangs slide down.

"Its always time to party," I reply just as mischievously.

The freaks and nomads start arriving and the place is booming with music.

"Go," I tell Reaper.

I appear behind the bar so he can go eat and dance.

"Dead or un-dead?" I ask with a wicked grin.

The night blurs by, its all just colors to me now. Red, black and electric purples.

We had just closed up which means the sun is up. We are all goofing around when Rodrick walks in.

"And how is our Prince of Darkness?" He asks.

"Just fine." I smile.

"Rodrick, Gabriel killed the Volturri!!" Skye bellows.

"Big whoop," Arion mutters.

"It is, as you put it a 'big whoop'" Rodrick growls.

He pushes me down into his throne, "We are forever thankful, Little Prince. Amuse us with your heroic tale?" He requests.

I smile as I accept more blood from Stormy and I gush out this amazing story of how 'I killed the Volturri and then an army was raised out of anger and I single handedly destroyed them too.'

Their mouths are wide open in awe.

"Oh my god! You are the bomb!" Lara squeals.

"Top notch, new guy," Stormy winks.

"I think the devil gave us the wrong power. You are definitely supposed to be 'the butterfly'." Brielle smiles.

Rodrick says nothing for a while but instead seems to be staring into my soul.

'I do believe you are my brother. Bravo.' I hear.

Out of nowhere, Rodrick says, "I do believe Gabriel's glass is empty."

Brielle takes it from me and heads toward the bar but he stops her.

"Are you sure?" She asks.

Without replying, he slits his wrist and empties some of his blood into the glass.

The others are shocked at this, Arion gets so angry that he storms out of the room.

I don't quite get it until Brielle hands me the glass.

'You are one of us now. Drink.' he says in my mind.

So I do. But I didn't know then exactly what I was drinking.

'How does it taste?'

"Extraordinary!" I remark.

For the first time since I was alive, I felt warm. I felt powerful. I felt....different. I'm not sure how differently I felt, whether it was good or bad, but I knew a change had been made.

'It should! You just drank the blood of the oldest vampire still walking the Earth.'

I dropped the glass, shocked.

I was on my feet in a second.

"Your what now?!? You just gave me the blood of the oldest vampire?!?" I couldn't believe it!

He nods.

"Why?!" Seriously! What did I do to deserve that???

'Like I said, your my brother. My friend. The modern version of me.'

My mouth hung open.

"What does it feel like?" Brielle asks.

"Like-" I search for the words, "-my veins are buzzing, I feel warm inside. Like-like-" all the sudden the chair next to me is on fire.

"Like that." I say.

Stormy puts the fire out and Lara leaves to check on Arion.

They all go to bunk down for the day as Rodrick leads me to his private room.

-Gabriel