Calista | Demetri Volturi

Beautiful

Callie harshly pushed her palms into her temples, teeth gritting as flashes of images and colours swirled around inside her head. Her eyes screwed shut, as she tried to piece the random patches together.

Her head struggled to remain above the raging current, bobbing up and down under the torrent of water. Mouth opening in a gurgling scream under the waves, she thrashed and kicked until the breached the surface, clambering onto a chunk of drift-wood; her float was soon upturned by a gigantic wave, throwing her back under the water with a harsh thud.

She felt a sharp sting, blood clouding around her face, as her hands weakly moved to stem the flow; crumbled shards of rock scattered from her open wound. Vision fading to black, her mouth opened listlessly, bubbles escaping her lungs as they filled with water.

The cold clutches of death were slowly pried off, finger by finger. Death was silent...but only for a moment. A searing hot fire erupted from within her chest, spreading to her limbs like wildfire; Calista was sure she'd been sent to Hell, being roasted alive by the Devil himself like a rotisserie chicken.

Her eyes sprung open. The intense burn of the flames had smouldered away, cooling like concrete; she felt...incredible. Indestructible, stronger than she'd ever felt in her life.

"Are you okay, Miss?" A voice called. Callie whipped round, scanning the source of the voice; she could see every detail on his face, from the tiny wrinkles on his brow to the growing stubble that peppered his upper lip. The wind blew his scent into her nose with the intensity of a sucker-punch.

"Starving," She hissed. Before the unsuspecting man could enquire as to what she meant, she had him in a vice-like grip, pearl-white teeth plunging into his neck. Callie moaned as the copper liquid filled her mouth, swallowing greedily. The man choked on a scream, unable to get any words out as her enhanced strength crushed his bones to a pulp.

"Good girl," A hooded figure strode out from the gloom, the moonlight illuminating the lower half of his face to reveal a condescending smirk," Giving in to your instincts, that's good - if you resisted then that would make my job so much more difficult."

Callie licked her lips, releasing the drained corpse of her prey, his body falling to the pale sand with a dull thud. Dead. The brunette gasped; she killed him. Why did she kill him?! Her hands flew up to cup her face with a strained gasp, squelching when her fingertips made contact with the congealing blood that coated her chin.

The stranger sauntered over to stand adjacent the brunette, flicking back his hood to stare blankly at the body at his feet. Callie's eyes filled with venomous tears.

"I-I killed him."

"Yes, I can see that..."

"Why? I didn't mean to - why did I do that?!"

"It's what our species do, I'm afraid,"

" Our - what? Who are you - what did you do to me?!" The stranger quickly cupped her face in his palms, shushing her startled and confused cries.

"Be quiet," He quipped curtly, deep black eyes staring into hers; she felt her brain obey despite her protests, calming her raging un-dead heart.

"You're a vampire, my Calista," He murmured affectionately, thumb stroking over her plump lips," My name is Darius...I'll take care of you."

The brunette stroked over the amber pendant that hung from her neck, thumb dragging over the black inscription that swirled over the stone; she couldn't remember her human life - not a lot of vampires her age could - but she had always had that necklace on. Why? She didn't know.

"That wasn't nice, you know," Callie bit the inside of her cheek, immediately recognising the voice. She twisted her torso slightly, peering over her shoulder; Demetri stood a few feet away, hands clasped in front of him politely. There was a slight mirth to his features, but from his cautious stance it was evident that he was still on-guard," Felix and I found ourselves back in Volterra, after our little meeting – with no recollection of how we got there, might I add."

"I told you, I wouldn't come with you," She shrugged slightly, her explanation plain and simple," When your buddy – He-Man – didn't take no for an answer, I sent you both packing."

Demetri bit his tongue with a sardonic smile," Yes, thank you for that."

Callie hummed slightly, tilting her head slightly to take in his features; brooding, not too dissimilar to a grumpy kitten. He was certainly a handsome specimen – a tenacious one, at that. Demetri smirked, catching her gaze; if she could blush, her cheeks would probably have been a rosy hue.

"You know, you are a very beautiful woman," Demetri purred, beginning to slowly make his way over to her seated form. When she made no attempt to flee, he continued: " You're very powerful – being a part of the Volturi could be the making of you."

She snorted on a laugh, sparing him an incredulous look," Oh, really? And do I get a cape, as standard? Do you have matching uniforms? Unitards, perhaps?"

Demetri hummed, taking a seat beside her. The moon was full, casting a pale blue light across the land below. The streets were dead, the witching hour having taken its hold, the only creatures stirring being the occasional stray cat. It was nice, as if the Earth had stilled momentarily, in complete peace. The blond found his gaze trailing from the scenery to the vampire next to him, amused to find her watching him curiously: "See something you like?"

"Uh, yeah I suppose I do..." The brunette replied with a small smile. The Tracker chuckled, swivelling his torso around to face her, one leg bent in front of him as he watched her curiously. There was something about this woman...something he liked, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. It was just - her.

"You should come and speak with Aro, he's keen to meet you, Darling..."

Callie's nose crinkled slightly as she thought over the idea," Hm...from what I've heard, he collects gifted vampires like Pokémon cards – its hard to believe that there aren't any telepaths in his midst, so why is he so obsessed with me?"

Demetri scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion," Poke-what?"

The female vampire snorted on a laugh, rolling her eyes as she swung her legs away from the edge of the building; she took a few lazy steps forwards," You're so out of touch, Demetri."

A shiver shot up his spine. Oh, he loved how she said his name. Demetri all but bounded over to catch up with her," Be that as it may, the offer still stands - you could become part of our coven."

"Being a nomad is pretty cool - I can hop from place to place, without a care in the world...no ties, ya know?"

The blond vampire took her forearm in his grasp, halting her child-like movements with a gentle but firm tug that sent her barrelling into his chest. Callie peered up at him with wide eyes for a few seconds, before regaining her composure; Demetri grinned at the adorable look of innocence that took over her face," I'm asking you to come with me, Love - you're a peculiar one...I like it."

Callie quirked an eyebrow," Do you usually call women 'weird' when you hit on them? How's that working for you?"

"I'll tell you in the morning," Demetri winked; Callie rolled her eyes, pushing away from him with a hand to his chest.

"For the record...that line? It was shit," Her sweet voice piped up from behind him. Demetri turned to face her, gaze bouncing from where she previously stood in front of him; she positioned herself precariously on the ledge, arms folded over her chest," Sent my regards to Aro... I might just visit him myself."

Demetri opened his arms out in a welcoming gesture," Well, come with me then, Gorgeous. Bless me with your company."

Callie ignored his statement completely: "See you around, Blondie..." With that she fell backwards off the building. Demetri sped to catch her, only to grasp onto thin air. She was gone.

To be continued...