CHAPTER TWO

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CHAPTER TWOJUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER

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CHAPTER TWO
JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER

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PART OF VALENTINA FELT THAT THE OIL PAINTING made her appear too perfect.

It was a strange feeling, staring at an oil painting of yourself from over four hundred years ago. There was a lingering itch at the back of her mind that insisted it wasn't her, that she was detached from the goddess-like being portrayed in the image. The sixteen hundreds was a simpler time she supposed, looking at the proud smirk on her face as she raised her chin beside her brother, he still towered over her. Caius had an infuriatingly smug grin on his face, an elbow casually resting on the back of the chair that Marcus was sat on, his expression blank as usual. It was only Carlisle who had a remotely genuine smile on his face, the other four having lost that touch of humanity a long time ago.

"It's been a while," he said, shutting the office door softly behind him. Valentina hummed under her breath, turning away from the renaissance painting and settled in the leather armchair nearest to her.

Crimson eyes scanned Carlisle's figure, almost evaluating him with a harshness he had forgotten she possessed. "I suppose four hundred years can be considered that." Even to her, almost half a century felt like some time was passing but, it was five lifetimes and she had lived over six times that before his exit from the Volturi. "Francesco made me look shorter than I am," she said plainly, eyes narrowing on the slight difference in height, "I'm sure it was Aro's doing." As Valentina turned back to her friend, a sly smile curved half of her red painted lips upwards, Carlisle studied her briefly from his position behind the desk before shaking his head in bemusement.

"Why are you here?" There was a serious undertone to his words, a frown present on his lips that only appeared when he was attempting to understand something he was unfamiliar with. "Not that I'm not delighted to see you," he lamented, only half feeling the need to ensure Valentina he was not bothered by her presence, the ancient vampire had abandoned the menial emotions required for her to feel offended by something so simple.

For a moment there was silence, her sharp painted nails tapping against the armrest of the chair rhythmically, spurts of shadow swirling around her hand, the density of it fluctuating as she waited. There was no sound of movement from the rest of the house, she assumed Carlisle had momentarily removed them from the house whilst they spoke of her presence - it was not hard to tell that there was something Valentina was hiding. "Three reasons," she said, eyes following the tendrils that encircled her as they moved of their own accord, "I'm on vacation."

Carlisle looked at her blankly, not quite registering what it was she had said, "You're on vacation," his mouth struggled to form the words, as though the thought of it it was so utterly foreign to him that he had trouble fully processing it.

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 | JASPER HALEWhere stories live. Discover now