Remedy

Hangover

Jane shrugged. "Aro insists."

I knew Aro's 'insistence' really meant I had no choice.

"You should be honoured to even be invited." Nina suddenly spoke up. I picked up some jealousy in her voice but I ignored it. I had learnt not to entertain people who are less than nice to me.

I turned back to Jane.
"What do you even do to... you know.... celebrate your birthdays?" I asked.

I really didn't know if I would want to celebrate my birthday every year if I knew I was not getting older.

"That's for Aro to know and for us to find out." Jane spoke with a roll of her milky red eyes. "He lives for organising our parties. He usually keeps it a secret until the last minute. He especially enjoys organising Jessica's. Last year, he rented out the Palais Garnier opera house just for her."

I pursed my lips, my mother did love Opera music a lot. My dad actually got her a snow globe of the Palais Garnier for her birthday.

I guess she preferred visiting the actual place.

The door suddenly swung open and Demetri strode in casually. He smirked at me.

"Oh good morning Miss lip lock." he teased.

I gave Jane an incredulous look. "What? You all know?" I yelled.

Jane shrugged. "Well we're not blind, you were making out in plain sight for everyone to see."

Demetri gave me an amused look. "You know Alec has been with lots of girls but I never pegged him for the human type."

Jane rolled her eyes. "I think we can all agree that my brother is a vampire whore." Jane spoke dismissively. "Now do you have any information as to where Aro is taking us?"

Demetri shrugged. "We aren't going anywhere by the looks of it. Apparently Jessica is still mad about his little..." Demetri flashed a look at me. "Surprise."

Great, now I had to feel guilty about ruining my mother's birthday.

"He actually sent me to inform you that lunch will be served at 1pm."

"Lunch?" I asked. "But you guys don't you know... eat."

Demetri smirked at me. "Say whatever you want about us, Miss Lockwood." He spoke my name in a teasing tone. "But if there's something the Volturi can never do, it's treat a guest with disrespect."

Jane shrugged. "Unless they disrespect us. Then we have to kill them." she spoke casually.

Demetri smirked at her. "Indeed. I mean we do have a reputation to uphold."

And at that moment I remembered exactly where I was, I was in the home of the 'royal family' of vampires. Dangerous, lethal, killers... I didn't expect any help from my mother in the protection department so I still had to be careful and look out for myself to ensure that I got home to my father in one piece.

"Besides." Demetri continued. "It's more of a business meeting. It's just going to be you, Aro, Caius, Marcus, Athenodora and Jessica."

I only recognised two names from that list but I assumed the other three were the other people I had met earlier and that did little to settle my nerves.

"Why aren't we invited?" Jane asked angrily.

Demetri smirked at her. "It's grown up stuff."

Jane didn't look as amused.

"The one year I actually find the perfect gift for her." Jane muttered.

Demetri ignored her and turned his attention to the other side of the room.

"Nina, darling." Demetri called the red head who had been standing in a corner quietly. She perked up at the sound of her name, seeming happy at the attention..

"Yes, Demetri" she spoke in a low flirtatious voice that made Jane roll her eyes.

Demetri gave her a dimpled smile. "I'm parched, love. Do you mind giving me a bite?"

"Of course.'' she spoke quickly as she rushed to his side.

Demetri took her hand and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles before looking up into her eyes.

"Thanks, love. Lets go somewhere more private." He spoke as he led her out of the room.

I didn't miss the somewhat proud and happy look that she had on her face.

When they were out of the room, Jane let out a scoff and went back to examining my clothes.

"What exactly does Nina do here?" I asked curiously.

I knew that she worked for the Volturi, I just needed to know what her job description was.

"She's a blood whore." Jane spoke bitterly.

Wow that was harsh. I thought to myself.

"So, she lets  you guys feed on her?" I asked.

Jane let out another scoff. "Oh I would never feed on her. Nina is one of Aro's little projects gone wrong, As you've seen, Aro has an eye for spotting talent. He does scouts out humans all across the world who have the potential to be extraordinary vampires and brings them here. Unfortunately for Nina, she didn't make the cut, but her, being the stubborn little bitch she is, couldn't just let it go. She fell for the vampire life and wanted to do anything to be turned. Aro refused this but he did let her stay because we did need a human to do some work for us. Ever since then, she has been doing whatever she can to get turned, her latest scheme is whoring herself off to Demetri and Alec in the hope that one of them will fall in love with her and turn her. It'quite pathetic really."

The mention of Alec's name made me blush but fortunately, Jane didn't seem to notice.

I frowned. I would never imagine wanting to be turned into a vampire so bad that I would abandon everything I know just to dedicate my life to it. Didn't Nina have a family? Friends? Didn't she care if she hurt them by leaving just to serve a bunch of people who couldn't care less about her.

"Wait..." I spoke as realisation hit me. ''Was my moth-I mean Jessica one of Aro's er... recruits?"

A dreamy look took over Jane's face. "Not quite, I mean yes, it started out that way but... for them, it was love at first sight."

''Huh...'' was all I could say.

Jane's head snapped to look at me. ''Oh don't tell me you're the 'I don't believe in love' type like my brother.''

The conversation I had with Alec came back and made me cringe.

"I believe in love." I replied. ''I just don't believe abandoning your husband and your daughter for another man and then faking your death to cover it up is love.''

To my surprise Jane didn't snap at me, her expression seemed somewhat sympathetic. ''Becoming a vampire is one of the hardest choices one can make.. Infact getting the choice is a privilege on its own. Most of us didn't get to make that choice...'' she trailed off then cleared her throat. ''What I'm trying to say is that you discover that sometimes a lie is much easier than the truth when it comes to saying goodbye.''

Maybe she was right. I thought about how I might have felt if I knew the real reason my mother had left us. I thought about how my father would have felt, she was the love of his life.

I guess this was for the best.

My dad had moved on with Helen and was finally happy again. I made the resolution never to tell him, even if I could, I wouldn't. If someone deserved happiness now, it was him.

Something else that Jane said lingered in my mind. Sometimes a lie is much easier than the truth when it comes to saying goodbye.

But he didn't even say goodbye. He didn't even have the decency to do that.
He just left.