Cecilia found that the wind was even more cutting than it normally was, or maybe it was the prospect of her more than likely nearing death that made everything seem more cruel. At least the snow had stuck, which meant the wind didn't carry much of it and allowed her to see more than a couple of feet.
Her heart was hammering against her chest like a hummingbird flapping its wings and her throat felt like an invisible hand was squeezing it shut. She tried to find support in her family's presence, but the thought of the Volturi made her world spin and her stomach churn. She'd never had a panic attack before, but she could imagine it as something like this.
Her father squeezed her hand softly, and with that simple gesture, her panic reached a new level. It meant that the Old Ones and the Elite Guard had arrived. She bit on her lip, thought twice of it and turned to Jasper. Their eyes met and a false sense of security settled over her. She let out a shaky sigh and turned back around.
She was standing in the middle, in between her mother and father. Edward, Bella, Nessie and Jake stood next to Esmee and Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie next to Carlisle. Quite the coven they made, Cecilia thought to herself, vampires, humans and wolves. Sweet irony.
After a couple of seconds she saw them as well, a black dot nearing them at a dangerous speed. It was a painful reminder of her human limits.
"Carlisle, my friend," the man in the middle said in a cheerful tone as soon as the two covens stood in front of each other. He'd combed his long black hair back over his shoulders and his milky red eyes immediately fell on Cecilia's frame. He let out a surprised gasp, as if he hadn't heard three live heartbeats instead of two miles away. "Another human."
Uh-oh, was all Cecilia could think, that sounded a lot less cheerful already. She recognised the three Old Ones immediately. The spokesman was Aro, the vampire looking at her like he wanted to snap neck right this moment was Caius and Marcus was the one acting out the living embodiment of boredom. She took an educated guess on the boy and the girl with similar childish faces being Jane and Alec, or the evil twins, as Rose called them. The man matching Emmett's bear like posture must be Felix, which only left the worlds best tracker, Demetri.
As soon as their eyes met, burgundy red contrasting sharply with sea blue, Cecilia felt a jolt pulse through her body. Like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes snapped back to Aro, a small gasp of air caught in the back of her throat.
"This is Cecilia Roseanne Cullen," her father introduced her. "Esmee and I found her seventeen years ago, abandoned in the middle of the forest."
"And instead of dropping her at the nearest orphanage, you decided to raise her," Caius spat. Cecilia had never heard a voice so angry and hateful and she had to suppress the urge to flinch. "You exposed yourself to yet another human. An unpredictable child at that!"
"Calm yourself, brother," Aro said. It surprised Cecilia how easily the man switched roles, but then again, he was the oldest vampire roaming this planet. He'd had centuries to master this. "I am absolutely positive the Cullens would not dare to do something that would put us all in danger. Now, may I, Carlisle?"
Cecilia watched her father nod and place his hand into Aro's. Much like Alice did when she had a vision, the man zoned out, lost in Carlisle's memories.
"Very interesting indeed," Aro said. His eyes snapped from Carlisle to Cecilia, and she felt a shiver crawl down her spine. "May I?"
She pulled off her glove and stuck her hand outside her cloak, pale, nails freshly painted in a cream pink colour and a single ring on her ring finger, a present for her fourteenth birthday. The Alaskan cold instantly took a liking to her skin, but Aro's hands were worse, almost biting her skin. The ancient vampire zoned out again.
Cecilia resisted the urge to look over her shoulder, to the comfort of her family, not wanting to appear like the weak human she was. Instead her gaze was pulled to the tracker, Demetri. With a little surprise she realised he'd already been staring at her, their eyes meeting for the second time. She straightened her spine, refusing to back down.
He was breathtakingly beautiful, the way almost all vampires tended to be, but there was something that made him stand out even more. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, she thought, so confident, a little arrogant even. Or maybe it was his features, the sharp jawline and his dark blonde hair. It made her head spin in a whole new kind of way.
When Aro let out a squeal that sounded a lot like a pig being slaughtered, Cecilia's blue eyes shifted back to the man right in front of her. A little surprised, she drew her hand within her cloak again, quickly putting on the warm glove. Her gaze never left Aro, who was chuckling and grinning like a high school girl, his red eyes moving from her human frame to his tracker's. Back and forth, back and forth.
"Brother?" he asked, turning to Marcus. The latter only nodded, if you could even call the movement that, to the unasked question of Aro. She knew Marcus' gift was to tell the relationships between people, her father had told her that, so she wondered if it had anything to do with that. "Can fate really be such a fickle thing?"
Cecilia couldn't believe her ears, had the eldest vampire, the royalty of his word, just made a reference to Romeo and Juliet?
Not sure what to think or what to do, she looked at her father, panic clear in her eyes. He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly, but it was enough for her. Just stand and wait, there's nothing you can do at this point.
"Speak your mind, brother," Caius said. Cecilia wondered if she could be turned by the sheer venom that sounded through his voice. "Before I break her neck and make an example out of her, that not even the Olympic Coven stands above the law."
Cecilia swallowed loudly, her heart skipping a beat or two in fear.
"There will be punishment," Aro announced. His glance moved over the entire coven, finally ending on her. "But there will be no snapping necks or any of the sorts today. Life is simply too precious for that, don't you agree, brethren?"
Cecilia couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her lips, perhaps this wasn't going to be the day she would die after all. If that wasn't an interesting plot twist.
"It appears there seems to be an interesting... bond between your very own precious Cecilia and our Demetri," Aro said, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Just as I mentioned, fickle fate."
Cecilia frowned, maybe her head was clouded with the relief of not having to die today, but she couldn't grasp a single word Aro uttered. How was she supposed to share a bond with the person she'd only just met, not even formally at that, and who'd only given her the creeps by staring at her. It simply didn't make any sense.
"The punishment, Aro?" Carlisle asked. Her father sounded polite enough, but she knew he was getting impatient.
She was as well. The cold had done her hand no good and the wind still cut her face at every opportunity it had. She was tempted to draw the hood of her cloak over head, but dared not to. She would have to suffer in silence.
"This has been quite an adventure, and it's only just begun," Aro babbled on. Cecilia knew she shouldn't think it out loud, but she felt like Aro talked and acted as a madman. Maybe those countless centuries on earth had turned him that way, it would turn any sane man crazy. "We come to visit you all this way in Alaska to see how our dear Renesmee is doing, only to find out you've been hiding a human for seventeen years. A lovely young lady for a lovely tracker. Oh, how are the odds?"
She supposed there was some truth in all that cackling and giggling, though it was hard to see through it.
"The punishment, brother," Marcus said, his voice sounding as old and depressed as the vampire looked.
"Ah yes, the punishment," Aro said, clasping his hands together. All of his earlier giddiness had disappeared like snow before the sun. One mask off and another one on. "Our beloved Cecilia will travel with us to Volterra, right this very day. She'll stay with us for a month to give her and Demetri some time to get to know each other. After this month, you can visit her in Volterra, but she will be turned by Demetri the next week, whether you visited or not."
Cecilia felt like she'd gotten a terrible blow to her stomach. She'd never been separated from her family for as much as a day, let alone a whole month where she was in an unknown city surrounded by unknown vampires, all on a human diet, mind you. She wondered if she was be better off with a death sentence after all.
"She will not be staying in Volterra for a month," her mother said, breaking the silence. She sounded resolute, a mother fighting for a child. "Some rogue will kill her before the end of the first week."
"I truly pity the poor soul who thinks that's a wise idea," Aro said, looking at Demetri as if that was supposed to mean something. Aro's dark eyes snapped back at Esmee. "The decision is final, a painful execution right at this spot, or you'll take her chances in Volterra with us."
"Surely she will be given time to pack her bags and say her goodbyes, right, Aro?" Carlisle said.
"Of course, of course, we're not monsters after all," Aro said, chuckling to himself. "One of you will bring her to the airport at 3 PM. I warn you, do not try anything funny, because we will find you."
"Of course not," Carlisle said reassuringly. "I'll have her at the airport by 3 PM."
"Good," Aro said, his eyes snapping a final time to her frame. "Till then, dearest Cecilia."
And gone they were.
A/N: thanks to all of you who've read the story so far and for the votes as well (: I hope you all keep enjoying the story!