The next day she got a knock on her door asking her to go out for breakfast. She declined. The captain then asked if she would feel more comfortable eating with him in his quarters. She declined again. The same thing happened every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Three days into their trip, she decided to have a word with the captain. She made her way through the ship late one night. Perfectly avoiding everyone while staying in the shadows. She knew the captain was out speaking with his small group of men; she had heard them speaking about setting up their trap for the next evening. The trap they were planning for herself.
Because it was already evening, she wore her white dress to play her character. She sat in the chair in front of his captain's desk with her back facing the door on his entry. Legs crossed and lazily leaning on the arm of her chair with her face in her palm and eyes closed as though resting.
She heard him enter the room, "¿Señorita? ¿Cuándo llegaste aquí? ¿Está todo bien?" he asked in his surprise, making his way around the desk to his own chair. His breath hitched when he saw her. This was his first time seeing her without her cloak, and she was stunning.
"Conozco tus planes." She said without opening her eyes. Before she could continue, he interrupted her.
"¿Qué planes?" he laughed it off as he sat down in his chair.
"No me mientas." She then opened her eyes to look at him, making him gasp and immediately stand from his chair, "Sé todo lo que has estado planeando. Después de la amabilidad que te mostré también. Muy decepcionante." She shook her head in her disappointment.
"¿Qué, qué eres?" he asked, cowering against the wall behind his chair. Trying to put as much space between them as possible.
"¿Realmente necesitas preguntar? Creo que sabes lo que soy. También creo que sabes quién soy." She smirked making her eyes glow, "Me mantendría fuera de mi camino si fuera tú. Tú y tus hombres. Si no lo haces. Te arrepentirás. Solo llévame a México, y tomaremos caminos separados. ¿Tenemos un entendimiento?"
He merely whimpered.
"¿Qué fue eso?" she mocked.
"¡Entiendo!" he choked out.
"Bien. Ahora, para demostrar que soy misericordioso, me guardaré para mí mismo en mi cuarto." She said as she stood up and smoothed her dress. "Pero si alguien me molesta, los mataré." She calmly walked to his door. Still playing herself up as her terrifying self, she turned back to look at the captain. Her smirk turned into a sinister grin as she engulfed herself in flames and put her hand to his door, burning her symbol into the back where he would always see it. In fear, the captain shut his eyes; she whispered, "Has sido advertido." She then used his fear to quickly make her escape.
When he opened his eyes, he discovered she was gone. He didn't notice her leaving as his fear was too much. He took a shaky breath but looked to his door and noticed the burn in the door was still glowing around the edges. He hid under his desk and wept. Praying it was all just a dream.
The next day Serafina lay calmly in her cot. She didn't hear anyone greet the captain all day. But many whispers said the captain wasn't feeling well. She wondered if he heeded her warning and told the men that the assault was canceled. She had her answer when she heard a soft knock on her door. She threw on her cloak to avoid their sight and possible touch.
"Señorita, el capitán está solicitando hablar con usted en su camarote. Me pidió que te acompañara allí." One man called. But she could hear others standing on either side of the door as well.
She decided to play the part and opened the door just a crack, and just as she suspected, three men pushed their way inside. She guessed the captain was too afraid to leave his quarters to give anyone else her warning. He allowed his men to their fate. She didn't mind. It would be a long trip, and she would rather feed now. She quickly killed the more disgusting men and, before he could scream, covered the mouth of the last man and went for her meal.
The captain had been holed up in his quarters since Serafina's visit. Whenever he tried to talk himself into believing he had hallucinated, he'd look up and see the burn in his door. He ended up sitting at his desk, staring at it all day and night. He had finally fallen asleep sitting at his desk when he heard shouts of panic coming from the deck. He didn't want to go. He no longer wanted to leave his room. He just wanted to keep as much distance from the demon as possible, but he knew he couldn't. He opened his door to figure out what was going on when he saw his men looking in his direction. He turned his gaze to what they were all looking at and saw three dead bodies beside his door. He recognized them as the men from his plan and knew they were placed there as a reminder to himself. He paled and ordered their cleanup.
Serafina had no more problems after that. The captain had initially told her before their trip that they would make a few stops before actually going to Cuba, then after all of that was done, they would take her to Mexico. After she had visited his quarters, things changed. She noticed no stops. They were just on a direct course to Mexico. They wouldn't even stop off in Cuba first. The men were confused, whispering that they believed the captain had lost his mind or might have been cursed. The consensus was split down the middle. He never clarified what happened to the men who were killed. That was why the cursed rumors started. They thought they were threats to the captain. He rarely left his cabin unless to eat, always wore a cross, and was just a lot jumpier since the day they saw the bodies. Most left him alone but talked about looking for a new ship to sail on at the port.
When they landed on shore, it was nightfall. She snuck off the ship with her belongings and hid them somewhere safe for when she was ready. She didn't like carrying her belonging in front of others. It ruined the character, in her opinion. Once her things were safely hidden, she returned to the ship in secret.
The captain nervously knocked on her door the next morning and announced their arrival. She slowly opened the door, and the captain bowed to avoid meeting her eyes.
"Nuestro negocio está hecho. Ya no necesitas temerme." She told him as she walked past him to leave.
The sigh of relief from the captain was huge as he fell to his knees and prayed again, thanking God for his life. He promised God to change his ways if he survived. He was planning on returning to Cuba and settling down.
She didn't recognize the port she landed on. She realized that when she was hiding her things the night before. She decided to leave her things for the moment while she just wandered, trying to find the way back to her town. She was pretty confident if she just went north, she'd get there. But the port she was used to already had a road she could travel, while this one didn't have any obvious roads. It led into a rain forest which she'd never traveled through before.
Serafina didn't mind. She had all the time in the world. She walked into the rain forest and decided to enjoy herself exploring. Several days into her travels, she discovered an indigenous tribe of the area in chaos. She stayed back and watched as several jaguars surrounded a giant beast of some type. She didn't even know that jaguars hunted in packs. That didn't seem right to her; she thought they were solitary animals. It was strange. She quickly and quietly jumped up a tree as she stood and watched. The beast was massive, bigger than even Danny in his other form. She thought it could've been some mutated bear or wolf. But she had never seen anything like this beast. She watched as it tried to attack the people of the tribe, but the jaguars would constantly attack it. Almost as though distracting it.
Deciding to let nature take its course and leave, she turned away, but she stopped when she saw the beast catch one of the jaguars. The others became more agitated and anxious in their assaults on the beast. But it wasn't enough as the beast decided to bite the neck of the jaguar, separating the head from the body and tossing them aside. Even Serafina winced at the gory sight. The other jaguars seemed furious as their assaults became more aggressive but sloppy. Then Serafina noticed the dead jaguar's body turn into a dead man.
Was that a shape-shifter? So, the others were shape-shifters as well. What was the beast? She looked up and noticed a full moon. Interesting. This changed things. She only didn't interfere so as not to expose herself to these people. But if they were also monsters, she was fine. She looked back to the tribe. Several injured or frightened people were attempting to huddle together for safety. She heard cries from men, women, and children. Fires were burning in random places, including people's homes. She took her cloak off and left it on the branch as she dropped from the tree and slowly walked into the chaos.
She decided to help the jaguars out but still decided to keep a bit of distance from everyone. She formed the fire jaguar and sent it to attack the beast with the others. There were many gasps of surprise at the sight of the fire jaguar. The most significant reaction was from the beast. But it didn't seem to care about the fire jaguar heading toward itself. It sniffed the air and became infuriated as it looked around for something. Its gaze finally found the source of the scent as it glared at Serafina. Its hackles rose. It seemed that it was fighting and killing for pleasure before, but her presence aroused its hatred. It turned its focus on herself and charged. She knew her jaguar would get the job done but decided to do a little more to protect the people in front of her. She used the fires from the village to build a flame wall to stop it while the jaguars did their thing.
She could tell the people were frightened of her, but they also realized she wasn't aiming for them. They were in awe of her beauty, mastery of flames, and protection of themselves. They looked at the flame wall. Still able to see a bit through it and hear what was happening on the other side. The beast roared its frustration but felt the flames on its body when attempting to go through the wall and halted. Wanting to go around to get its enemy, but it was stopped by the jaguars. The flame jaguar caused significant damage and without the distraction of their people being in danger and the new help, it didn't take long for the jaguars to destroy the beast. Serafina dispelled her flame wall and allowed her jaguar to destroy the beast into nothing. She then recalled her jaguar to her side.
The shape-shifters turned back to their normal forms and walked toward her. Her jaguar hadn't returned to her body even when she had asked it to and stood in front of her protectively. They immediately dropped to their knees in front of her, bowing religiously while chanting something that sounded like "Chantico." She wasn't sure what that was. But her jaguar seemed to like it as it soon sat in front of her and began to flick its tail playfully, then it leaned back into her and dissolved.
She didn't care about what was happening. She tried to speak to them in Spanish, but it seemed they didn't understand her. They didn't speak a language she understood either. They presented the bodies of their fallen friends and families; she wasn't sure what they wanted her to do. But decided to burn the bodies. It seemed the right decision as they soon presented her with gifts. She allowed their worship, accepting the jewels and gold they presented, but soon left. She wouldn't learn anything from them, so she wouldn't bother trying. She continued north after retrieving her cloak.
She finally got out of the rain forest, and to the terrain she somewhat recognized. She continued her walk home. On her walk through an unfamiliar town, she sensed others of her kind. They sensed her too. Soon a man tall and lean showed up in front of her. He had shoulder length shaggy blond hair and a few scars on his arms, "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am someone you don't want to interfere with," she answered.
Soon three women joined the man and stood in front of her. One brunette, and two blonds of different shades. The brunette gently rubbed the man's shoulder as she leaned against him, "what have you found my love?" she asked him.
"A trespasser in our territory. You should know better," One of the blonds directed to Serafina.
"We don't allow trespassers to live," The other blond woman said.
Serafina removed her hood. The women seemed familiar, but she wasn't sure from where. She wanted to get a better look and see if they possibly recognized herself. As soon as she removed her hood, the women stiffened as they did recognize her.
The man felt their emotions. He sensed the new womans' confusion. He sensed the three women on his side's confusion, hatred, but eventual fear. He stood in front of the women protectively.
Seeing his stance Serafina cocked her head to the side looking at him. But she had noticed the women's reaction to her face. They did recognize her, "Have we met before?" she directed to the women.
The brunette pulled the man back and decided to just answer, "weren't you part of Benny's army?" she attempted to hide her hatred at the name, but Serafina caught it.
"I was never part of his army. But I remember you three now. You were the women on the mountain I saw that one day when I put him in his place," Serafina smiled, "we never actually met, I'm Serafina Hart. But call me Miss Hart."
"I'm Maria, that's Nettie," she gestured to the woman with the paler blond hair, "Lucy," she motioned towards the other blond woman, "and Jasper. My mate." She finished grabbing the man's arm.
Jasper felt confusion from Miss Hart at his introduction. He watched as she looked at Maria somewhat questioningly. He felt annoyance from Maria.
"Your mate?" Miss Hart hesitatingly asked.
Jasper felt a slight spike in annoyance before he felt the feeling of love come from Maria as she pulled him closer to herself.
"Yes. He is my love. My mate. We will be together for the rest of our existence," she smiled lovingly at him and brought him into a kiss.
Serafina remembered what Benny had told her. He killed all three of these women's mates. She didn't think it was possible to have another mate from what she heard. It wasn't her business though. But she still felt somewhat bad so thought she'd ask, "Jasper, was it? Is that how you feel as well?"
He felt Miss Hart's confusion again. Slight fear from Nettie and Lucy. But confidence from Maria. Yes, she was confident in their love. He should be too, "Of course, I love her just as much if not more. We'll be together for the rest of our existence. That's why she made me after all. She couldn't be without me." He smiled while putting his arm around Maria's waist, giving it a light squeeze. He didn't notice the smug smile Maria gave Serafina.
Serafina merely nodded, "well alright then. As long as you're happy."
Jasper felt sympathy for a moment from Miss Hart, but it disappeared into indifference.
"You were never part of Benny's army?" Maria asked trying to change the subject.
"But you didn't destroy them all when we had seen you with them." Nettie accused with a slight edge to her voice.
"You seemed to make friends with him and his faithful guard dog," Lucy spat.
Jasper felt the hostility building from the women but no difference from Miss Hart. She was very calm.
"No, I didn't destroy them all, but that doesn't mean I joined them. I had only met an idiotic vampire before I met Benny and Danny. I just wanted to speak to them to learn more about our kind. I only killed some of their newborns to prove my superiority. Then I just spoke with them after that. Nothing more, nothing less." She shrugged.
"He is dead right?" Lucy asked.
"Of course. He drew too much attention to our existence so was destroyed by the Volturi," Serafina answered.
Jasper felt an immense happiness coming from the women. He wondered what Benny had done to cause that much hatred from them. So much hatred that they would become elated at his death. He'd ask them about it later.
"Why were you not destroyed?" Maria curiously asked.
"Because I did nothing wrong. Like I said, I wasn't part of his army," Serafina grinned, "that, and apparently they couldn't hurt me anyways. They tried."
Jasper felt Miss Hart's pride but the other women's fear. He decided to bring her down for Maria. He attempted to flip their emotions. He tried to put fear into Miss Hart with his ability. But soon felt pain and anger from Miss Hart.
"Do not try to play with my mind or heart," she said through gritted teeth with her eyes shut. She suddenly opened them revealing their glow.
Maria squeezed Jasper's arm and hissed for him to stop. He did but looked back up to Miss Hart. Unsure of what her ability was to cause such a fear from them. Why did her eyes glow like that? How was she able to resist him?
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
Serafina didn't want to deal with them anymore. She calmed down. But raised her chin as she looked down on them with arms crossed, "you mentioned no one was allowed to enter your territory. I'll just remind you. You know why Benny was destroyed. I personally don't care what you do. But I'd just remember to keep your army under control. Don't draw attention or the Volturi may come back to finish you all off just like him. As for myself. I'll go through any territory I damn well please. And I'll kill any who get in my way. I'd warn your army to stay back if I ever decide to pass through. Also, stay out of Texas. We can just say that's my territory." She then proceeded forward. Walking past them on her way home.
Once she was gone the women let out growls of frustration. Upset at how they were spoken to after they had already shown other vampires of the area that they were the ones on top. But they had seen her abilities before. If even the Volturi couldn't stop her, what could they do?
"What can she do?" Jasper asked curiously. He had felt all of their emotions and was just curious now.
"She controls fire. She can kill us all in a matter of seconds. Make sure you warn our newborns to just allow her to pass if she comes through. Go train them now. We need to speak." She ordered him. She noticed him hesitate, "Please my love?" she cooed.
He froze a moment, then softened at the term of endearment as he nodded and went to teach the newborns.
"He didn't suspect a thing. You are too good at faking it." Lucy acknowledged after they knew Jasper was well out of earshot.
"I don't know how you do it," Nettie sighed in appreciation.
"It's hard, but a necessary evil. He's a good tool." Maria said with unconcealed disgust.
"But what about this Serafina Hart?" Nettie asked, "It seems she knows the truth and I don't think we can kill her. Jasper can't even affect her emotions."
"I don't think she'll be a problem so long as we stay out of her way. I don't think she cares one way or another what we do." Maria said.
The others nodded in agreement. They then decided to get back to work in their territory expansion.
Serafina herself made it back home to her town. She always enjoyed seeing how things changed in her absence. She decided to settle down here for a bit just overseeing the town from the shadows as usual. Speaking to the townspeople on occasion, playing with the children, and traveling when she wanted. But still mostly alone. She missed the Volturi already. But she refused to be a tool.