Wildflower | Volturi Kings

Chapter Six

No one moved. A slight breeze travelled through the air, ruffling their silky locks of hair like some creepy shampoo ad, yet they seemed frozen in time, no more alive than a statue.

"What the fuck..." I whispered under my breath, eyeing them critically. And all of a sudden, they were moving again, inching closer towards me. The dark haired man, Aro, lowered himself to the floor in a crouch, as if approaching a startled animal.

I watched him warily, my gaze switching between the three of them. The other two men were tensed but stood back, seemingly in an attempt to appear less of a threat.

"Oh, cara mia. We would never..." Aro trailed off, his voice taut with anguish. "We could never harm you." He dropped fully to his knees, mere inches in front of me. I stayed stiff, pressed against the stone wall as I stared him down in defiance.

"Yeah, well, forgive me if that doesn't inspire much confidence, considering events that occurred literally less than a minute ago." I bit out harshly, narrowed eyes locked onto the man's deep red iris'. "Who are you? Where am I? Please, just let me go."

"My name is Aro, tesoro." He said gently, noticing as my eyes flickered over to the two men behind him. "This is Caius and Marcus, I promise you, they will do you no harm. Would it be alright with you if they came a little closer?"

My jaw tensed and I nodded warily in agreement, I mean, it's not as if I'm not already screwed. They lowered themselves to their knees, dropping next to Aro, a little too close for comfort but not quite invading my personal space.

An image of Felix, effortlessly ripping my attacker's head from his shoulders as if it were nothing, flashed through my memory. I stared at the men as my brain ran through all possible scenarios and explanations. Somehow, it seemed highly unlikely that I'd stumbled upon some twisted X-men mutant kinda bullshit.

They straightened slightly as I cleared my sore throat, their posture's sharp and attentive.

"What are you?" My voice sounded rough and irritatingly emotional. It was my 'I'm definitely about to get screwed over by my anxiety but first, I need answers' voice.

It seemed they had both expected and dreaded this question, as they exchanged a look full of meaning. Yet no one spoke.

A small sob broke from my throat, despite my desperate attempts to hold it in, and I buried my face in my knees, my arms wrapped around my legs despite the overwhelming pain the movement caused me. "Please," I struggled to stop crying, "I don't- I don't understand." A gentle brush of a hand against my leg, caused my tear stained face to reappear from its hiding place amongst my knees. The hand belonged to the tall, dark haired man, Marcus. His brow furrowed as he realised what he did, and he withdrew his pale hand with a murmured apology.

I eyed him as he glanced at Aro and Caius, before he sighed heavily, running his hand through his long hair.

"Piccola... What- What do you know of the supernatural?"

I let out a hysterical laugh, "That it's fictional?"

"Not so, I'm afraid. My brothers and I are living proof of it." Marcus paused at my teary expression of disbelief. "We are vampires, sweet one."

Vampires.

That one word elicited another terrified sob from my throat, and my chest tightened. Everything around me was unfocused, blurring into one very abstract image, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. My uninjured hand flew up to grasp at my chest. I could feel my heartbeat speeding relentlessly and beating out a harsh rhythm in my chest as I bit down another panicky sob. Worried voices spun in circles around me, bright splotches appearing in my vision.