Fire and Ice: The Volturi Queen (Aro/Marcus/Caius/OFC)

Chapter Three

Persy could vaguely hear Tye cursing in both English and French but she was too focused on the vampire that had turned to her the moment she had foolishly revealed that she knew exactly what he was. Personally, Persy had never actually met a vampire; not in the sense of stopping to have an actual conversation with one anyway but she had known for years that they existed. She also knew that the entire Cullen family were vampires thanks to overhearing their thoughts when she had run into a few of them in the hospital.

She hadn't wanted to believe it at first; all she wanted to do was live in her little oblivious bubble where the weirdest things were her abilities and Tye's magic. She didn't want to know there were creatures out there far more dangerous than the most dangerous men and women she had read about. However, she had also overheard the Cullen's thinking about their diet on multiple occasions and had felt comfortable knowing they were 'vegetarians' even if the very idea was laughable.

Persy had made sure not to act any differently; afraid she would somehow let it slip that she knew what they were. She was sure that if the world wasn't aware that vampires existed it was for a very good reason. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if there was some secret vampire hierarchy that had laws in place for that kind of thing.

Mentally, she snorted. You've been reading too many fantasy novels, the little voice in her head chuckled.

Any other time she would have smiled at the little voice in her head but at that moment, the vampire was moving over to her booth and the closer he got, the more dread she felt. She didn't know why; she had already heard him thinking about Carlisle and Esme so she knew he was a Cullen and his eyes told her that he followed their diet. However, she had also caught small snippets of thoughts that had her blood running cold before he had suddenly slammed up his mental shields.

He must know another mind reader, she thought; knowing that people didn't use mental shields unless they had to. Tye had been more than excited when he had successfully blocked her out after two weeks of unsuccessfully trying to form his own mental shields to block out her telepathy.

"Hello."

His voice sounded like honey but she knew even poison could be sweetened to hide the danger. His gold eyes traced her face as he sat down opposite her and grabbed her phone, hanging up on Tye who had still been cursing up a storm. Her eyes narrowed at his audacity but her glare only seemed to amuse him.

"Good evening," she replied with faux sweetness, "I'd be happy to take your order but I'm afraid I'm on my break right now."

He smiled, showing all teeth and making her think of a wolf snarling at its prey. She forced her body to relax; unwilling to show her fear to the creature in front of her.

"There's nothing I want on the menu," he retorted and Persy had to focus hard on not flinching when he suddenly thrusted a mental image at her of him pushing her against a wall behind the diner as he sunk his teeth into the juncture where her shoulder met her neck.

"If you're not going to order anything I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Persy snapped, grabbing her plate and plucking her phone from his hand before she turned to make her way to the kitchen.