Stay

It Takes Me All The Way

Returning felt like taking a breath of fresh air after working in a mine. Returning to Volterra made me realize how much I missed it there, even if I had hated it as a human. I remembered everything about the castle, the crack in the wall right by the door to the Throne Room, the faded books in the library, everything. It felt like I was returning back to my house after school and finding Brady and Seb and Tessa making a mess of the kitchen. They had called it baking, I called it a mess.

The point was, it was nice.

"Are you going to stay here now or are you going to leave again?" Jane asked rather rudely. She, along with Felix and Demetri, were walking me to my bedroom. Aro wanted to have a reunion party to celebrate me coming back to Volterra, and for some reason he thought Jane would be able to make me look beautiful enough to be noticed to anyone. Apparently, Caius told Jane that he thinks I should find my mate soon.

"I don't really know, Jane. I'm still trying to figure out where I belong," I answer her honestly.

"You could've mailed us. We write back, you know," Demetri told me.

"I didn't know what to say to you guys," I defend myself. Jane huffs and opens the door to my old room.

Everything is the same as it was seventy years ago, when I was human. The clothes on top of the dresser, the neatly made bed, the stack of books on my nightstand. It was almost as if nobody ever came in here. Like they just closed the door to my room and never revisited why I'd leave.

"Well, now that you're back, we need to do something your appearance. It's pretty, but it needs to be top-notch. Have you had any boyfriends since you left?" Jane asked.

"No." I answered. Nobody thought of looking at me twice. "Nobody liked me in America."

"Even vampires?" Demetri asked.

"Yeah. There was one that seemed to like me, but I left after I realized." I told them.

"Hmm." Jane pondered. "This masquerade ball is huge. All of the Volturi are going to be there, along with other important vampires in Europe and even some humans. You should look amazing. We need to get more members of the Volturi."

"You pick the dress, Jane. I'll do Vera's hair and we'll both do her makeup." Demetri started. He sat on my bed while Jane opened my closet. I sat on the chair by my dresser.

"How is everyone? Felix, Caius, Alec?" I hesitantly ask. Jane kept sorting through my dresses while she answered.

"Felix found a mate. Her name's Gretta. She's a German vampire who lived in Sweden for about three hundred years before visiting Volterra and asking for help. She needed protection from werewolves and there aren't many other vampires in Europe except the Volturi. We protected her, and Felix was placed to watch her. He fell in love. She lives here permanently now, in Felix's room," Jane started. She paused, looking at my closet and frowning. "I think I have some dresses in my room. Follow me."

I followed Jane out of my room. Demetri decided to gather my makeup and hair stuff together while I was gone.

"Caius has been fine. He likes to think of you as a daughter of his. He was harsher while you were gone, though." Jane continued. She opened the door to her room and walked over to the closet.

Her room was huge. Even bigger than mine. It was painted black and had an air of darkness. What caught my eye was the second bed in the corner of the room.

"Hey Jane? Why is there a second bed in your room?" I asked.

"It's Alec's bed. You know of how we became vampires right?" She started. I remembered Alec's story on the balcony, how much pain he held. I nodded. "Well, after Aro bit us, he had taken Alec and I here so we could transform. After we became vampires, Alec couldn't handle it. He was going crazy. At night I'd find him crying on the ground of his room and wishing to be killed. He wanted to feel something, Vera. He wanted me to use my gift on him, and I couldn't make my little brother do that. So, I did the next best thing I could. I brought him to my room and comfort him. I'm not as heartless as everyone thinks. I care about my brother. We've only had each other our entire lives. Lately, he's been getting worse. He was okay for a while, but I don't know what happened that made him so upset."