Cursed >> C. Volturi

Long Road Home

A woman with Aphrodite's smile and mahogany curles was leading a large group of humans towards us, their age varying from five to sixty, but all smelling equally delicious.

The overwhelming smells that danced together could be described, in a simple term, as a true feast, and as such, the thirst that I felt as we passed them was greater than any before, my throat burning as if on fire, and my eyes were turning black. Everything in me screamed to take a bite, to feel the rhapsody of human blood in my system once more.

The need that shook my body was great and the desire to give in even greater. If it wasn't for Alice who took my hand and hurried passed them, dragging me with her, I would've given in. Her other hand was rubbing circles on my back as if to comfort me, but it is only when Demetri led us to the reception area that I let myself breathe.

"Do not leave until dark. " he warned us, before his eyes found me. I saw him scanning me, his eyebrows furrowed, as if searching for something he couldn't find. Something he'll never find unless I allow it.

Maybe it was the fact that I already compelled Felix, or that Demetri was one of the first people I played with, but seeing the struggle his mind was going through made me want to help. Or maybe it was because I wanted to have a better starting position with the guard once I come to live with them, knowing well that my little stunt with Felix might make them less... hospitable.

In a movement that was too fast for the human eye to follow, judging by the yelp their human secretary Gianna let, I came to Demetri, his hand instinctively rising, but before he could touch me I took his wrist, his ruby eyes locking with my own as I released him from my spell.

"Now you remember. "

I've started to patrol less than a month ago, still at the newborn age of four months, everything around me was distracting and novel.

Anabelle, my patrol partner for the night decided for us to split, so we could cover more ground. At least that's what she told me. The truth was that she wanted to go back to Tobias, a vampire about eleven months old, who she believed to be giving her a high better than any blood she ever tasted. Both of them were spending every moment enjoying each others company, both being equally shameless in their interactions, guided by their instincts despite being almost a year old, and by rule better at controlling their impulses.

I didn't mind, still too absorbed in the beauty that surrounded me. It did not matter that it was midnight, my eyes saw even the smallest curves on the leaves, the old indentations of claws on trees, long since covered by moss, the small particles of dust running through the air.

I could smell everything too, the rain that has fallen three days ago, the dirt I walked on, even the peculiar smell of a bird's feathers, but none of Benito's men, that being the one smell Maria trained all of her newborns to always recognize, since the moment they awoke into their knew life.

The night seemed so peaceful, and I was alone, a creature more powerful than any animal or human, more powerful that a great number of vampires in existence. I allowed myself to fall in a false sense of security, enjoying the peace I was given before I had to return to the chaotic way of living in the Coven.

I wasn't even thirsty, the warm and sweet blood off the human woman I drained coursing through my crystallized veins. The Major was training me to eat less and more neatly so I could control my impulses better. Still, one part of me wanted to break the rules and go hunt some more, only one human in three days being almost too little of a nourishment for me.

I didn't, of course. I never did. I saw what happened to those who disobeyed the Major, I saw his punishments, I saw how even the most proud of our kind were reduced to nothing but pathetic heaps of shaking limbs and silent screams, completely overcome by fear and pain.