Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Damage

Whatever truce that had risen between us in the library seemed to have disappeared literally overnight as Alec returned to being the world's most obnoxiously horrid person.

The entire day, we'd been throwing heedless insults back and forth. It got to the point where even Jane, who had stopped by for a civil game of chess, had left us to our stewing.

It had been only a matter of time before one of us broke first.

He was leading me to the kitchens, neither of us speaking a word to the other after I'd suggested that if he couldn't say anything nice than he shouldn't say anything at all. We'd only made it down two flights of stairs when he finally checked to see if I was still behind him. I was. If keeping ten paces in-between us counted as such.

Alec didn't seem to think so. His eyebrows narrowed as if inconvenienced by my basic human inability to walk at vampire speed. To be fair, ten paces might've been a bit excessive. "Keep up."

"Keep up," I mimicked him in a childish tone under my breath.

He stopped abruptly and I conveniently remembered that vampire hearing was also a thing. Alec seemed taken aback by my words, though it was hardly the worst attitude I'd thrown at him. "You can't speak to me like that." So, he did use contractions. Welcome to the English language, buddy.

I scoffed, "watch me."

His eyes sharpened and his voice lowered, "you do not seem to comprehend how lucky you are —"

This was ridiculous. "In case you forgot, I didn't ask for this. My life is over and it is all your fault." I shoved a hand against his chest but it had no effect on him. Instead, he clenched his jaw, not even bothering to deny my accusation.

Alec took a step towards me, raising his hands as if to physically enunciate what should've been an apology. Except, this action alone triggered a flurry of activity behind my ribcage. He moved towards me again, his face shifting from shame to arrogance.

He smirked, "do I make you nervous?" The deep, huskiness of his voice made my eyes widen, and I swallowed unnecessarily.

"I'm not afraid of you."

"No..." he clicked his tongue. "There is something else..." The implication alone was enough to send a shiver running from my spine down to my knees.

"What are you on about?" He stepped forward again and I now countered his movements. Watching me with amusement, he repeated the action twice more only to have me do the opposite. "Knock it off."

"Your heartbeat betrays you." I bit my lip and he held out a hand as if to touch my cheek. I closed my eyes, unable to handle the combination of the combustable, emotional response inside me and the anticipation of what he was going to do next.

It wasn't until I felt a light pressure on my arm that I opened my eyes to see him focusing on my bruise. The one he'd caused. It was nearly gone now, more yellow and green that was overtaking the red tones underneath. Bruises weren't always so apparent on my mixed skin, so when they were I knew it was a particularly nasty one.

My eyes widened because he trailing a light finger over the bruise and goosebumps sprung up over my arm. The shame was returning to his expression and as much as he pissed me off, I'd do anything to distract him from his thoughts at that moment. Yes, it was technically his fault, but he clearly hadn't had to spend too much time considering the welfare of a human. Especially not one that was idiotic enough to throw his own words back at him.

And just when I was convincing myself that he might not be so bad after all; He opened his mouth. "Humans are so fragile. Though I cannot imagine you will be much better as an immortal."

What a prick. "Right, because you're such a dream."

Now I'd done it. He whipped his head to look at me, his palm flattening against my arm before he took hold of my chin. His hair had fallen into his eyes, which were no longer the brightly satisfied colour they had been. Nevertheless, there was a flash in them, a flash of resistance and Alec faltered for the briefest of seconds. Then, it was gone.

"You, girl, are the most insignificant human to ever exist." It was a lame comeback and he knew it.

I pulled away from him, which was easier than I expected so he must have taken Aro's warnings to heart. "Oh yeah? Then, why didn't you just let those boys kill me?"

He gritted his teeth, "clearly, I made a mistake."

Alec turned and stalked away from me, as if to leave me behind in the empty corridor. I blew air out of my lips, bending down to take off my shoe before throwing it right at the back of his head. "HEY!" I missed, of course, but the result was the same. He stopped, his palms curling into tight fists. "You know what I think?"

He appeared in front of me and I tried not to be thrown off by the supernatural factor. He hissed, "I do not care—"

"I think you're sad." He froze and I found myself replacing anger with an unusual sort of empathy. "I think someone hurt you a long time ago and you've been taking it out on the rest of the world ever since. And I think you're too afraid to admit that you're just as broken as any one of us." I took a breath, highly aware of the fact that I stood close enough to him to touch him and my hand was already reaching out when he caught me by the wrist.

His words were venomous, full of poison and ready to strike at any moment, "you do not know anything about me." I pulled my hand back, but his grip on my wrist only tightened.

The fire in my chest began to grow again and I tugged my hand away from him until he finally released me. "Here's my question —" My chest rose and fell with breaths I had to retrieve from my diaphragm, but I was nowhere near done. "Why me? Why was it my life you had to destroy?"

Looking at him made me lose my breath with a fear I'd never felt before. The mere timbre of his tone outlined the restraint he had to maintain to keep himself from doing the one thing he was built to do. Yet, just being near him made my mind became cloudy and irrational and if I didn't stop picking fights with him, I'd probably wind up with teeth marks on my throat.

"What life?" An evil smile appeared on his face, the kind that an evil villain practiced in a mirror. "Chasing after a father who didn't want you." It was the smile the villain prepared for the exact moment he revealed to the hero that he'd killed everyone they ever cared about. "So defected that you could end up killing yourself without a babysitter." That they had destroyed them. "A burden — flawed and insignificant." It was the smile of someone who had already won and he was just getting started.

How could someone so beautiful, be so cruel. He'd already made it very clear that my very existence was the bane of his. I could feel my mouth open, completely and totally at a loss to defend myself. I was no hero. I was just a girl. I'd done nothing to make him hate me enough to make him play the role of a real life villain. He'd done nothing but try to convince me of such since I'd arrived.

Except, I don't believe in villains. Bad guys — sure. But, assigning either role for Alec...I was unconvinced.

Don't get me wrong. His attitude, spiteful words, and misguided hostility made my blood boil and I had definitely played out several cartoon scenarios in which he went splat on the pavement in some construction zone. He had no right to treat me the way that he did. He shouldn't treat anyone with threats and harsh words.

But as much as I wanted to return the favour, I don't think I could. Because even villains...

"At least I'm alive."

A bitter laugh left him and he seemed quite pleased with himself as he left me standing pathetically in the hallway.

"Not for long."