1 week later
As we continued our journey, along the way we came across a destroyed village. Lifeless bodies scattered everywhere, men, women, the elderly, and even children. Some of the bodies appear to have no blood in them, especially the younger ones. The way they died does not seem to be the work of werewolves but rather of vampires. I look at Léa and Gabrielle and feel uneasy; their safety is the most important, so I decide to continue the journey as quickly as possible. Due to Francis's slower pace, I carry him on my back despite his refusal to be dead weight for us, but the truth is that his weight is nothing to me.
As we travel through the middle of the forest to avoid the roads, I start to smell something familiar, Aro. In panic, I start thinking quickly about a solution, to the point of considering abandoning Francis, grabbing Léa and Gabrielle, and fleeing as fast as possible. But against all my instincts, I refuse; Francis also has someone waiting for him, but Aro will certainly recognize my scent, so I have to think fast.
Using my senses, I find a small cabin that is empty, probably a temporary hunting cabin, and I leave Francis along with Léa and Gabrielle hidden. I don't explain much to Francis, I just tell him he must stay hidden until I return.
To keep Aro as far from them as possible, I run at full speed toward where Aro's scent is coming from until I find him with 12 more vampires.
-"Long time no see, Kai. It's always a pleasure." says Aro with a smirk.
-"The pleasure is all yours, and I've already told you my name is Kael!" says Kael coldly.
-"Oh, my oversight, I apologize. You know I'm very forgetful." says Aro with a small laugh. "What brings my good old friend to these parts?"
-"I could say the same about you; you're far from home!" says Kael in the same cold tone.
While I speak coldly with Aro, another vampire steps forward with his eyes fixed on me.
-"Last time we met, didn't you happen to meet some of my friends?" Caius asks with murderous intent.
I feel his intention, but I cannot back down. I lean my body slightly forward, ready to attack if Caius makes any move against me. Aro senses the tension between Caius and me and looks at Caius.
-"What do you mean, friends, Caius? I don't remember you having any connection with Kael." Aro asks curiously.
-"The day he left, I sent 2 guards after him to punish him. He disrespected us, so he had to be punished!" Caius says angrily.
-"I remember telling you to let him go, ah... what a confusion." Aro says with a fake sigh, as if he knows nothing.
Aro begins to look at Kael with more interest, as if he were a rare piece that could be collected.
-"My good friend Kael, it's really a shame that there's been a bit of tension between you two, but I have a solution!" says Aro while pretending to think. "Why don't you join the Volturi? You've already proven that you can be relatively useful."
That hateful look glued to me as if I were just a piece on a chessboard is disgusting. But I must play his game.
-"I'm sorry, but I'm more of a lone type!" says Kael.
-"What a shame, old friend, but as Caius said, if you're not one of us then you must be punished." says Aro. "It was two who hunted you, right? So let's make a deal: if you defeat two of mine in front of me, I will let you go; if you lose, you join us. Tell me, am I not a good friend?"
Aro turns to two of the vampires following him, a man and a woman, and they take a step forward.
-"Nice to meet you, I am Jane and this beside me is my brother Alec, please do not be too harsh with us." says Jane without emotion.
I prepare myself to fight them, but they seem not to see me as a worthy opponent. As soon as the fight begins, Jane looks at me and a pain as heavy as if it came from deep within my soul explodes from my body and I fall to my knees. I try to endure the pain and get up with difficulty in search of my targets, but suddenly I lose all my senses, unable to feel anything around me. I just feel someone hitting my body as if I were a wooden puppet that cannot hit back. Is this my end? As if nothing else mattered, everything around me slows down, not the world, but my perception. I start thinking about Léa and Gabrielle, will I see them again? At least they are safe, right? No, I must win. While I feel what I think is Alec playing with my body as if a predator is playing with its prey, I wait for a small gap that will give me victory.
And just as I thought this small gap showed itself, but due to how my perception of time works for me this small gap has become a big hole impossible to ignore. As soon as Alec reaches my body again, I quickly grab him by the neck and start squeezing. Jane adds to the pain that tears my soul apart, but each time she rises the pain I squeeze her brother's neck even more until she stops.
I look directly into Aro's eyes as I keep my hand stuck on Alec's neck.
-"Did I win?" Kael says coldly.
This time Aro looks at me differently, surprised.
-"Yes, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Aro asks now with more conviction.
-"No!" Kael says coldly.
As soon as Kael leaves, Caius looks at Aro.
-"Why did you let him go? He challenged our authority!" Caius says angrily.
-"The Volturi never go back on their word, Caius!" Aro says coldly. "But now he has my attention, yet he wasn't our target at the moment, was he?"
Author's point of view
Kael didn't know, but while he was talking to Aro, the small cabin in the forest had some unexpected visitors.
Léa's point of view
The brother is gone, he must have felt danger and now he is facing everything alone again, in the end I cannot help him share the pain he carries.
While I hold Gabrielle in my lap, I hear a noise at the door, could it be my brother?
As soon as the door opens, two figures dressed in black with red eyes look at us.
-"Look what we found, a snack haha." says one of the monsters.
Francis looks at the two and realizes that they have no good intentions. He gets in front of us with his cane raised. In the next moment, one of the two vampires tears the cane from Francis along with his arm.
Francis screams in pain and horror, but remains in front of us in a protective way, although it is useless. The next second, his head falls to the ground, as if his life had never been worth anything.
I step in front of Gabrielle and gaze into those red eyes so similar to my brother's, and I pray that our guardian angel takes us out of this nightmare.
Author's point of view
Life is so short and beautiful, people always wish for a happy ending but in reality what always stays with us and marks us are the tragedies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I should still release the promised third chapter today.
It's practically done, I just need to make some modifications and then translate and correct what is necessary. Thank you for your support.
Yes, on one hand I found it funny not to release the next chapter at the same time I released these two.
So how do you think the next chapter will be?