Be Careful What You Wish For

Chapter Thirty

1 When Aro unchained Fiora, Irina couldn't help but tense up, even though she didn't want to make the situation worse by signalling discomfort. However, even she had trouble reminding herself that there was real danger, because Aro's happy enthusiasm at the experiment's success was so contagious, it was virtually impossible to resist its appeal.

"I understand that all you ever wanted was to be loved by all," Aro said, unlocked the thick metal collar around Fiora's neck, and dropped it on the floor. It clanged loudly, the sound reverberating off the stone walls. The girl held still, just stared up at him with a wary expression on her nearly skeletal face. "But that's impossible. No-one enjoys universal approval." He hunkered down, unlocked the heavy cuffs holding her ankles together, and chuckled lightly when his skin brushed hers. "No, not even me."

Fiora looked rather doubtful. Irina knew how she felt. It was hard to believe that anyone with that incredible power of true charm could not make basically everybody he met like him, or at least be fascinated by him.

After he freed her of the chain around her skinny torso, he went on to un-cuff her wrists, to which her eyes grew even larger. Her plump red lips parted in a silent, gobsmacked question.

He smiled down at her with warmth, the hostility he'd displayed toward the girl in Irina's presence either gone or at least very well hidden. "Because like this, you're not a threat to anyone; that's why. Don't get too excited, though, all right? I'll let you move freely in here and watch your progress. If this state you're in can be kept permanently, then maybe I'll let you leave this cell and stay somewhere more comfortable. Would that be a fair compromise in your eyes?"

Still staring at him with unmistakeable wariness, she slowly nodded. Even though she was no longer chained to the wall, she didn't move. Irina didn't think that she'd be physically able to, after that many centuries spent in complete immobility.

"I'll call for water, human food, and some fresh clothes for you," Aro said, rose to his feet, and walked out of the cell, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went. Before he closed the door, he glanced at Fiora over his shoulder. "If you believe in any form of higher power, now would be the time to pray that this solution really is the miracle we were all waiting for."

Little later, a few vampire guards brought the requested items: bread, beef, a whole gallon of water, and a clean cotton-shirt-and-trousers combination. It was a little strange to observe these centuries-old, trained warriors tremble and quail before this tiny little girl in the stone cell, but they hurried so quickly in and out of the place, even Irina had trouble following their motions. She didn't know what the best part of this new development was: the fact that the vampires were not being at all compelled to help Fiora escape, or that Fiora herself was finally not chained to the wall like an animal anymore. This was a sentient, sapient person. She did not deserve to be in constant agony – no-one did. Not even the likes of Jasper Whitlock, one of the most unapologetic psychopathic people she'd ever had the misfortune to meet.

"Can I go in there and help her? I don't think she's able to change her clothes like this."

Aro gave Irina a long, thoughtful look, before he nodded his quiet approval and opened the cell door for her.

This time, when the lock clanged shut, Irina didn't even flinch. Right now, this emaciated young woman lying sprawled on the floor was not one of the most powerful, destructive monsters on the face of the Earth. Right now, this was a helpless person who couldn't even stand by herself. Standing by idly whilst she crawled around on the cold stone floor would just be cruel.

Fiora didn't flinch either as Irina handed her the food, which she wolfed down with an expression of both pain and relief on her face, using both trembling hands, as if she hadn't eaten in centuries. Maybe she hadn't. Maybe they really hadn't fed her out of fear. Maybe it had been necessary to keep her as weak as possible. Whatever the reasons for Fiora's pitiful state, at this very moment, they were gone. She'd regain some of her dignity. Aro was right: here was to hoping that this cure really was permanent, or at least that it could be made permanent via regular applications.