A woman was measuring two watermelons at the street market in Volterra. She wants to buy a smaller one but sweet as well. She thinks: My poor Pablo would know which one is the best. He always had good eyes for these things. She sighed. She thought about her only son. He will bring his family to visit her. The children are old enough to enjoy the taste of melon. Only if grandpa Pablo could meet them…
“Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want to play?” A light woman’s voice called me.
“No, thank you…” I answered quietly without lifting my eyes from the window.
From here I could oversee a good part of the city. It was Saturday and in every good mediterranean town, there was a market at the main square.
“Maybe you would like this one.” The sweet woman sat next to me at the soft window seat with a beautiful porcelain doll in her hands.
She had a mahogany colored hair that fell lightly on her shoulders. She possessed a frail, pale skin, like the ancients do. It lost its marble-like look a long time ago. Her eyes were a milky red too. A bit dreamlike, like she isn't awake fully or sober.
She was Sulpicia. The wife of master Aro. I stayed with her and with Athenodora, Caius's wife, over the past two days in the Red Tower. At first it was a big deal since the Red Tower, as I got to know, was the home of the masters and their wifes. A few selected guards were allowed to enter with permission, like Jane, Alec, Corin, and Chelsie. Basically those who wore the darkest shade of gray. The simple vampire who was just visiting the coven couldn't even dream about entering.
And yet I am here. Sharing the precious rooms of the most influential and adored creatures in the immortal world. The reason was that it is the safest spot in the whole globe. Almost literally, in the heart of the largest coven in existence. Some might say a child like me could never comprehend the honor that I received. Shame on them my adult mind fully grasped what surrounded me and as expected it was quite depressing.
The walls were faded, the curtains and fabrics were heavy and although every single furniture had marvelous decoration on them from gemstones and gold, everything had an eerie burnt smell. Like incense but stinkier. Sweet but death-like. I felt this aroma on Afton too. It made me think. Is this the scent of the dead?
Is this because of how many vampires were executed here that the walls took in the smells?
I took the porcelain doll from Sulpicia. It was old of course but in good condition. I am no historian, I never was in my previous life either, but from the clothes that were on the doll I guess it is from the 18th century. Its eyes were a glassy green and its blond hair were braided into two. It was meant to be a childs toy for an aristocrat. I found it pretty.
I touched its hair. It was still soft. It had a chubby cheek despite that it was porcelain. I had to poke it just for fun. I thought I was gentle but my index finger broke through the surface like it was a thin layer and not a hard material. I stared down at the broken face of the doll. Its emerald eye slowly slipped into the hole. Shit.
Carefully I glanced up at Sulpicia. She isn’t angry because I broke an expensive toy, right? She stared back at me worriedly. She took in my every move. Will I cry? Throw a tantrum like every child would? I relaxed. She didn't care about something silly like earthly goods, I noted.
“Sorry.” I muttered and pressed my temple back to the old glass.
“No harm done.” She smiled at me kindly and took the wrecked doll from my light hold.
She was worried that I didn't act like a child. My emotionless numbness was unbearable in her eyes. She counted back every second getting ready when I would finally lose it and start to cry after my parents. I didn't plan to do that. I knew they would come. Edward promised and they are not the ones who break a promise like this.
A man was walking on the streets. He wasn't planning anything important. Would he sit in the pub that is at the next corner? Although his wife is home, but she wouldn't be angry if he will be late for a few hours, right?
“Aren’t you hungry? Would I get you something…?” She grabbed my attention again. She would do anything to force out some kind of interaction from me.
“No thank you.” I told her again politely. She sighed defeated.
“Sulpicia, let her be. If she needs something she will ask for it.” Came Athenodora’s voice from the huge velvet sofa on the other corner of the room.
“A child at her age needs a lot of attention.” She scolded her sister back.
“And tell me dear, which age are you referring to? The one she actually is, the one she looks like or the one she behaves?” Athenodora holded Sulpicia’s heavy gaze.
I had to note that from the duo Athenodora was the sharper one. She was bold and graceful. The kind which I would expect from a five thousand year old woman. In truth she was the oldest amongst the masters. Older than Caius by about a few hundred years. Her whitish blonde hair was lush and long. She had a strong build to her. She might be a warrior all of her life and she behaved like someone who is absolute.
Sulpicia didn't answer her. Hybrids were an enigma for all of them. Our development was unnatural and unique, she couldn't fully grasp our nature. She glanced at me sadly. She wanted to play the kind mother for once and she couldn't figure out how to get me to behave like the baby I looked like.
Her ideas annoyed me with no end. Playing a mother and being a mother are two very different things. In that matter I am definitely not a toy to play with.
“I have a mother, thank you.” I commented on the thought carefully.
She took a sharp breath in. She didn't expect me to read her mind. Athenodora on the other hand broke into a laughter so sudden and so vividly that I snapped my head in her direction in surprise. Her whole body shook in the motion. She didn't even try to hold it back.
“Please make fun of me.” Sulpicia turned to her offended.
“But dear sister. You have to admit you were the careless one.” Athenodora rested her jaw in her palm still giggling.
She was right of course. Aro holded a few hours lecture to them as to what they have to know about me, including my powers. They were aware of my telepathy. She just clearly underestimated my skills.
“Hmp.” Sulpicia lifted her chin like a child. “Well then go ahead and do it better.” Without another word she marched out of the room.
I guess she doesn't want to play the mom anymore. There was silence in between us. The only sound was my fast heartbeat and my quiet breathing. Athenodora didn't feel the urge to disturb me either.
I pressed my temple against the old window. For a while I observed the outside world. Teenagers roamed the streets with their friends. They joked and messed with each other. There was a brother and a sister couple. They were arguing over something silly while the others couldn't decide where they would sit and open their brought drink. The fight was pretty nasty. They were throwing harsh words at each other but inside none of them meant it. The sight made me utterly depressed. I could give almost everything just to be able to argue with Renesmee.
I closed my eyes after a while. I wanted to just sleep and skip time altogether… It was more challenging than I expected. For two days now when I close my eyes the images of the events that led me here came back to my mind's eye. Even if I tried I couldn't push down the hurtful things which the villagers cursed us with. Every scene was crystal clear. Our escape to get home. The way I got lost. That I stupidly thought that Serena and Jennifer are trustworthy. If I could just stand my ground. If I just went home when they found me instead of letting them take me… I was so dumb.
I could have avoided so much pain. Joham would have never laid a hand on me. These nights were the worsts in both of my lifes. The suffocating feeling that I had to walk on eggshells so I wouldn't be punished. The fact that they wanted to force me to kill another human child. I felt that man’s grasp on my shoulder. The hopelessness of the situation when I thought that this will be my life from now on....
A coldness touched my cheek. My stomach knotted in itself. Someone touched me. Before I could comprehend what it was, this tense feeling rushed over me. I heard glass breaking and at that moment the stranger's hand bounced off my skin. I quickly slipped from my seat and I found myself at my feet under the window facing five obviously surprised vampires.
“It’s okay Carlie. You are safe here.” Aro's smoothing voice came from the corner. He was standing up from the ground slowly and carefully.
It took me a few minutes to understand what the deal was. I stared at them unblinking until I pieced some things together. The three masters was here. Caius pulled their wifes behind his back protectively like something from my direction could hurt them. Aro stepped before them talking to me. I wasn't at that dark alley where I escaped from. I was in Volterra. I was safe. I was waiting for my family to be here.
I stared deep into their minds. I was sleeping at the window when the masters got here after their daily duty. Aro wanted to carry me into a bed so I could rest more comfortably. He was the one who touched me that scared me to death. My rushing heart started to slow down. My stance eased and with it the others relaxed slightly too.
“I am sorry…” I said quietly. I shot my eyes down in my embarrassment. I clearly overreacted.
“No harm done little one.” Aro spoke to me sweetly and stepped closer now that he saw that I am calmer.
Glass shards took my attention on the floor. How did they get there? And what was more strange was that they were arranged in a perfect circle around me. Aro stopped a foot away from me. I glanced up at him now confused and then to the window where I sat before. The early spring wind gushed into the room from the empty frame where the old milky glass was supposed to be.
“What happened?” Now I asked them while still observing the damage. Did this break from the outside? By who?
“I think you are the one who could explain this.” Came Caius’s harsh remark.
“Is this how you speak to a child!?” Athenodora snapped at her husband. He glared back but didn't argue with his wife.
I looked at them confused. How could I know what happened? I slept. Then I saw it through his eyes. Aro came to me. I was startled awake and when I did the glass shattered and the ancient was thrown back to the other side of the room. He flew quite a distance. My eyes widened from the memory. I did this? How? I looked down again at the circle of shards around me. The knot in my stomach tightened as I became more nervous about it. The shards around shook and slightly got pushed farther away forming a wider circle.
“How amazing.” Aro said and leaned down to pick me up from the sharp ground. His hand got stopped by the invisible force around me like he touched a solid object.
“How am I switching this off?” I grabbed my shirt nervously.
“Try to calm your nerves, that might help?” Aro looked me in the eye kindly.
He was purely guessing of course. I pressed my lips in my helplessness. Oh boy. That won’t be easy.