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Chapter Text

As I step off the bus with my tour group, I thank the local near my vacation rental for a second time in the back of my mind that she told me to wear walking shoes instead of my fancy flats because ahead of me is a couple of miles of walking before we reach our destination.

I Eliza North have spent the majority of my vacation in Florence, Italy, finally getting that break in life after school just before I join the work force and totally not avoiding the fact that I have no real clear idea what I want to do. One might assume that with my work ethic that I had a goal in mind but really I was lost and lucky...well also smart I guess or at least that's what my therapist would want me to say, but when your seemingly simple happy life is flip inside out over the most anticlimactic event ever known to man you kind of just wonder aimlessly. I was 14 years old when my parents got into a car crash that left a small dent in their car and the other "victim" very angry over a "scratch" on their brand new "baby" with four wheels. My aunt and I still have no idea what happened but this incident rewired my their brains from loving and caring parents to the kind that don't know what your face looks like now because that's how long they have been gone traveling the world checking off their bucket list and making new ones.

They left me home alone with my aunt just down the street from me, sending me enough money to pay the bills and and to feed and clothe myself. So, suddenly I had to step up and take charge in my life. From then on I worked my ass off in school, even graduating high school a year early and starting college at 17 years old. I received a full ride scholarship and got my bachelor's Degree, which sounds like a big deal full of excitement and dreams but really I just zoned out, just going with the flow of life, just trying to survive. My therapist has consistently tried to convince me to take a vacation to take a break and work through my emotions that I...In her words "Haven't worked through since my parent abandoned me", like she's got a degree and knows everything or something. I used every excuse in the book to avoid actually going through with it, but when my aunt died in my sophomore year and I realized that now I'm truly alone I promised myself that I would finish college and take a break and really think about my future.

I'm taken out of my spiraling thoughts about the reason why I'm here with the ooo's and ahh's of the crowd as we reach our destination.

In a tiny city called Volterra just an hour in a half drive away from Florence, a group of tourist including I, walk upon House Bounparenti, one of the smaller sight seeing spots not originally on my list but just happened to fill in one of my days with nothing in it. Seeing the the clock tower is somewhat lack luster, some how the place did look better in the photos on the brochure handed to me then it does in person. I mean the clock does indeed look old and it's crazy that its still standing but I mean...okay...and? I start to question if I should just leave and explore the area right when the most drop dead gorgeous woman greets us inside. The woman is wearing a tight onyx colored dress with some similar in shade heals with gold accents throughout the whole outfit, a bracelet here and some earrings there but what stood out the most was a singular ruby pendant glinting in the light around her neck, her gorgeous and stunningly beautiful neck. With her mahogany hair swishing back and forth, smelling like vanilla, hopes and dreams she walks with an ease around the room, which could only come from working here for a while yet she looks bright and full of life, new. Her voice is gentle but it cared throughout the room almost like a church bell and her eyes were like blue amethyst yet they seemed to have a hint of something...red? within them. At first glance I notice we are the same height but she stood tall almost as if she was looking down at me. She was pulling me in like something dangerous and wild. I think... I want to leave.

"Salve everyone, My name is Heidi and I will be one of your tour guides today" she says
" We will be splitting the group into smaller ones of four. "

Another Strikingly gorgeous woman walks in wearing the same outfit has Heidi, a uniform, but instead of a pendant around her neck she wears a true gold and ruby ring on her finger. She's cute though, if you would of told me that I had meet her at one of the clubs near my college campus, I would believe you, she looked like a party girl yet somehow fit well within this "stuffy and boring" job, definitely the words she would use. She looks like she could command this enter room but I have to look down a bit to see her face. This woman scans the room, her eyes like a dark rum and with a hit of red beneath them as well, and for a split second her gaze lingers on me before turning to the rest. I get goosebumps up my arm.

"This is Cindy, Another one of our tour guides" Heidi explains.

Cindy whispers something to Heidi and a private conversation is had between the two. It seems to be important as there focus changes from us to themselves. Heidi then proceeds to tell us that there will be a five minute wait. She never explains why, so we wait and Cindy leaves the room with Heidi staying put... staring. Chills roll up my back...must be the wind or something.

Heidi puts on her best costumer service smile and me and the tour group examine the room. The wall are a dusty tan with red, gold, and black carvings and detailing. There's a pillar in the center of the room that leads up the the ceiling which is coved in four sections with intricate paintings to look up at. To the left and right of the room is two staircases both leading down to which I can only assume is the way we will going seeing how the one stair case that leads up has a sign saying the upper floors are closed off for the foreseeable future. The tour group is a mix of your usual visitors seeing a different country, yet I notice we're all about the same age. Cindy returns sooner then the mentioned five minutes and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"We will now separate your group into two" Heidi says "One group will go to the left and the other will go to the right"

Heidi then proceeds to pick me and three others to go right. I can't explain it but I feel like I'm being watched and I truly wish to back out with the excuse of being sick and I am now no longer trusting the sketchy woman who said I should come as she handed me a free ticket with this brochure a few days ago. I don't know why though because so far this seems standard for a tourist attraction, exploring an historic building and learning about its history but when I look down those stairs I feel vertigo. I want to leave but then as if Heidi can read my mind she has a hand on my back and a Beautiful smile on her face and we head downstairs. The man next to me who had been looking at Heidi like she's the human embodiment of heaven itself, pipes up and ask why the group was separated and she explains that the two groups are informed on different parts of the history. One learns about how the building was made and ours learns about the people who made it.

"Don't tell the kings this but I prefer this one it's more..." Heidi pauses "Thrilling" she says with another smile that makes me sick but that I can't say no to and then Cindy giggles.

We reach the bottom of the stairs to a corridor which is stone and marble galore with innate iron candle sconces on the wall and hanging candle lights dangling from the ceiling, which I have to crane my neck up to see properly. It didn't feel like we walked to far down for the ceilings to be this high but almost as if she knows I'm questioning things, Heidi lulls me down the hallway with another grin and outstretched hands .

Heidi begins speaking "This group will be learning about the kings who founded Volterra and why this castle is standing today and for the many centuries that its been here "

Despite the grand nature of this section of the building and the beauty of it all, its damp and kind of hard to breath down here. Its cold and feels forbidden and I notice that the tour group all have smiles on our faces looking excited to be here but we are all also grabbing onto ourselves for warmth. Heidi and Cindy look fine, as if they are use to it... No, like they expected it?... like they don't care about it really from the looks on there faces as they go on talking about the start of everything.

"But the town knew what they really were... Vampires" Heidi says continuing the story,

Great, fairy tales while I freeze to death not being able to back out, yet I feel my blood run cold when I remember the red behind Cindy eyes and the bell tone in Heidi's voice. This is not the time for spooky stories and for me to actually get scared by them but again, why am I scared? Nothing has happened, in fact I should leave a review on yelp for the service provided here today and ignore the voice saying that I'm never leaving here...like EVER. I can now almost feel the enchanting pull that's in Heidi's eyes almost like she can tell when my mind wonders away from the information she's giving at hand. As if my brain has meet its soulmate, a question starts to form.

"Did these *Vampires* really have an effect on the towns people or was it just folk lore to bring in travelers and merchants" adding quotations marks in my tone around the word vampires to show my disbelief of the impact that fake monster had for this city"

Heidi glances at me taking in my question and for the first time her smile had dropped and my stomach flips. Cool so maybe don't ask the tour guide questions because apparently that's a big no-no here, as I side eye the man who asked his question with no problems.

Heidi finally speaks "I guess some people would say that, but the locals did believe in these... Creatures" some hesitates in her voice as she chooses her words "many here still acknowledge the existence of them today" with the warm and inviting smile returning to her face

And as if I didn't just learn from my mistake, I ask another question

"Do you believe in these creatures? "
" Of Course!" Heidi says cheerfully "We wouldn't have our jobs here without them, the Kings that is "
and another " And who are these Kings?"
"Amazing that you ask... I'm sorry, what's your name?"
"Eliza, Eliza North"

Heidi Turns the corner and walks towards the singular door at the end of the hall. As we enter into the next room which is covered wall to wall in large paintings from different eras of the same three men, Heidi begins to explain the history of the Kings.

"Well Eliza, first we start with the man who started it all, Aro". She points to the man Who stands in the center of all of the paintings. In the paintings, Aro is depicted to have medium length black hair and unexplainable white skin with piercing red eyes. He stands tall and sure of himself with ego and power oozing off of him.

Heidi starts telling the story of how Aro came to be, despite the "true lack of knowledge of it all really, outside of his desire to become incredibly powerful", She says. She brings to our attentions to the largest painting of all with Six people standing in the center, a family in my eyes but in the words of Heidi a coven.

"Aro later meets Marcus, Caius, and Athenodora, then soon turns his sister and wife into Vampires as well later on and they start there Coven in Greece originally" as she gestures towards the people in the painting.

The Woman next to Aro must be his wife, Heidi said her name was Sulpicia and started this long winded story of there not really love story mentioning how they're not really mates like Marcus and Didyme and Caius and Athenodora. Marcus and Didyme being to the right of the painting and to the left of Aro. Marcus looks the youngest with long black hair with his set of red eyes standing along side his mate, His true love as Heidi puts it, who was also Aro's sister. Heidi puts a frown on her face as she mimics sadness as she explains that Didyme is no longer with them as if she would still be alive today. She then points to the left of the painting and to the right of Aro and talks about the other mated pair Caius and Athenodora, and begins talking about there role in the coven. I start to wonder why Cindy and Heidi have such admiration for the definitely dead and not real men in the paintings as if they have meet them and like a brick I realize they believe the stories to be true. I try to hold back my groan as I process that I wondered into a unknown place with crazy people who slightly frighten me for reasons I noticed way to late for my liking and now I'm probably way to deep into this to back out and leave. Unfortunately I will most likely have to wait until the end of the tour and whatever crazy cult business they are going to try to get me to join at the end of this to really get out of here.

Heidi glances at me with a slight glare before she smiles and walks towards me continuing her story and places her hand on my lower back guiding me further down the room towards another door towards another fact about the kings and this place. She goes on about some war between the kings and some group of other vampires called the Romanians and how the kings convinced the whole global population of vampires to hide their identities to protect themselves from humans. My legs start to hurt as we continue walking and she's talking about powers and diets and it's absolutely freezing in here. The tour is only supposed to be an hour but we only keep going deeper and deeper into this labyrinth of a palace. I take a glance at the rest of the tour group, we are all shuddering from the coldness in here...how deep are we?, why is it not insulated and well heated in here...why is everyone still smiling. Am I smiling? Its hard to keep walking and keep my legs straight but there is no where to sit and we haven't had a break in...what...how long has it been? She's still talking. Informing. showing. walking. opening another door to another room with more paintings. I pause...there's a grandfather clock...It feels like its staring at me more than me at it. seven hours. We've been here for seven hours. I can feel the bile in my stomach almost reach my mouth when Cindy slowly pushes me towards the group and sweetly grabs my jaw to face Heidi. I can't leave, I want to run...why am I not running? Where could I run, I don't know where in the building I am. Heidi turns to us with what feels like the first real smile that we've seen...Beaming at us.

"Before we enter our last room of the tour, we the Vulturi would like to thank you for your contribution to our coven"

She opens the door to a grand room, same as the rest. Stone, Marble, and all things lavish top to bottom, the only difference is the gore. Semi familiar faces from the other half of the tour group lay emotionless and dead on the ground. Body parts in a neat pile, bite marks and cuts all over their bodies and yet not a drop of blood outside of a small pool in one spot where someone is being scolded for making a mess and how they will be the ones to clean it up. They have red all over their face with a wild and excited look in there eyes but their head is hung low as if to hide it from the scolder. I fall to my knee's in horror and I want to scream but I can't, like a sick joke I also feel okay with what I see has if something is forcing me to. How did this happen? Why am I here? Then I hear it, behind me, some sound of something, no... someone being ripped apart. A bone snaps and cartilage pops and horrible screams. I dare not to turn around for what I might see, for what I can already see what happened to the group prier. Then I feel it, four sets of hands at my arms and legs and a speed I can't comprehend. I hit the ground hard and there's a ringing in my ears and sharp piercing pain at my neck, biceps, wrist, one at my hip and two in my inner thighs. I finally open my eyes and see six people biting at me, I feel some suction at every place a mouth is and then as if molten lava was being poured on me, something being pumped back in. They speed off... and my body writhes and aches, the pain is unbearable. This is torture, this heat... it hurts to move it makes it spread faster throughout the rest of my body. I cry out, I beg, I plead, I curse, and I struggle. The tears on my face feel cold but relieve nothing. I hear something, a group of people talking, no complaining. They say they love the screams but hate the *theatrics* they call it. My screams, my calls for help. I chance it and turn to look at my tour group and there's another pile formed of their bodies. I see the man from earlier and he's gone, lifeless...truly gone. They're not feeling this, there's no way, their faces are too still and their bodies too quite. They are over there ready to be disposed of and I'm over here falling through the layers of hell.

Chapter Text

As if I have first hand experience, I know that this pain is worse than being set on fire. Its worse than being doused in acid. Hugging the sun would a kinder fate. The way my skin feels like it's peeling away from my body that's also peeling away from my bones. I had the misfortune of knowing that they didn't throw me into a super nova by opening my eyes which only made them boil. Its only been a few minutes, I can barely process words being said around me... confirmation about something. Its all too fast and I can't hear them over the sound of the blazing heat or is it my screams? The way my throat hurts, I'm unsure if its because of my howling or if its the flames.
Suddenly I feel myself being lifted up by something frozen and hard, Arctic cold and its a sick joke that it does nothing to tame the inferno. In a nauseating manner I feel the environment change, and flip, I know better now than to open my eyes. I've lost all sense of direction and my orientation and feel something hard pressed against my backside, maybe the ground, maybe whatever picked me up. There's one more final whoosh of the firestorm and then nothing...my prayers have been answered and the pain is gone...I'm in space. I feel nothing... absolutely nothing. I think I open my eyes, I don't feel it or I can't see...I try to listen to my surroundings but nothing not even white noise. I try to move but my body is gone, the hard surface is gone, everything is gone. I chance it and start calling out for someone but I don't know if it worked there was no sound...I'm unsure if I even said anything at all or if I even have a throat or mouth to talk with anymore.

I couldn't tell the time. It felt like an eternity but also as if time hadn't passed at all. All I have are my thoughts and the things I think I'm seeing. It's like shadows within in the void that's not actually there. I can't help but think that this is how dying works, dying is a painful conflagration then nothing at all but centuries and eons of just your thoughts. Maybe it's only been a few minutes and I'm just moving on. Maybe I'm apart of the universe now and this is it, can't even see space because I'm a nebula with no eyes. What if I imagined being attacked and this is the pile of lifeless bodies and I'm making the same face of that man. Lifeless and disconnected but noticeably died scared. Is he here with me, near by and I just can't tell? Am I reaching out to him but don't notice? Is he experiencing something different, watching me going through something else? Another Minute, another year, another eon, feeling nothing possibly doing something or nothing probably saying something or nothing. Suddenly, like a sick game, everything before the abyss comes back but amplified as if while I was gone it was all being cranked up to 11. The Heat is some how worse and I can feel and hear everything again, the hard surface on my back and voices talking at high speeds...but I can actually hear them now, understand them.

"Aro is going to want to see her immediately," a young boy says "I can tell he'll find use for her"
"Understood, I'll make her look presentable and send her over to you" a light cheery voice follows
"Be careful, if you're right, her powers might work like his...make sure to wear these, we don't want her getting spooked if the lessons didn't help tame her".

Everything is all too much, the heat, the sounds of everything, the smell of everything...its old and new...I can't put words to it all and the HEAT is moving closer to my chest. A small solace for my hands and feet then my arms and legs. My heart is chasing the stars, moving so fast, beating even faster. The flame is centered at my my heart in the end and the beating of my chest is slow but violent, like a tired miner hitting coal harder with fewer swings. I feel the air leave my lungs with one final breath as my heart beats one final time. Then, all I hear is the soft wind, subtle conversations all around, the sounds of people walking and also running insanely fast , the buzz of electricity and the sounds of...things I've never heard before. The air around me smells of Chestnut trees and clay and near by something smells of Cocoa Butter and Cinnamon with a hint of cherry. I feel the ground beneath me, hard like stone and my skin feels the same and suddenly a gloved hand caresses my face, its soft and firm but reassuring.

"Its time to get up Eliza" says the cheery voice from earlier "You've done remarkably well and have transformed quickly, already trying to get in Aro good graces I see" she giggles.

I open my eyes to see a heavenly gorgeous woman with a smile that shined like diamonds with rays of light bouncing off her warm melanated skin sparkling with hues of copper and gold like amber in the sun.

"We must get you dressed into presentable clothes so that the kings can assign you your role within the guard".
"The Guard"? I question while she helps me sit up

I don't recognize my voice, its doesn't sound the same but I'm unsure of what it even sounded like before.

"Yes, the guard protect the kings and help them enforce the rules within our society".

Society? Where am I? and how did I get here? I don't know where I am but I feel like I remember her face.

"Who are you? and How did I get here"?
"I'm Cindy and you have been selected to become a member of the the Vulturi Guard, Do you remember anything before your transformation"?

I try to think back before the burning and the abyss but it's all hazy and unclear

"I remember walking for a long time I think and something about the past of kings".
"hmm, I see the information from the tour didn't quite stick".

She grabs my hand to help me up and she leads me towards a bedroom with a set of white clothes set out on a bed, with her other hand on my back. I don't feel fragile and I can almost tell she's doing this to stop me from doing something.

"Now I'm going to help you get dressed since your strength and speed should be out of your control, would you like to keep the clothes you have now or would you rather trash them"?

I look down and I see that I'm in a white summer dress and some sneakers, I know that they are mine but I don't remember how or why. I reach out to grab the hem at the bottom and my hand moves lightning fast and when I grab the dress my hand is still moving and I rip the dress leaving behind a tear of fabric at the end. I shouldn't be able to move that fast. Horrified, I take a few steps back in shock but instead I go from the center of the room to hitting a wall behind me with a loud crack and debris from the wall and a wooden table shattering around me. I should've felt pain but it barely felt like anything. I mostly just felt that it happened if I felt anything at all.

"Tsk, Now this is your room if you break anything else we won't replace it and you will be without". She says as she kneels down in front of me "Are you going to listen to me this time or does Alec need to come back and assist me".

Alec must of been the other voice I heard talking to this woman. How many other people are here? I hear foot steps all around coming from every direction, some walking, some running. The running is only somewhat slower than the few steps I took. Can everyone run that fast here? She said something about a transformation I took, is that why I'm like this now? Questions run through my mind at a rate I can apparently comprehend, Who's Aro? Who's Alec? Where am I? Who am I? How did I get here? Why am I here? Who is she? Why Is she wearing gloves? Is that what this Alec Person gave her? What Tour? I felt like I was wasting time but these questions running through my head only take milliseconds to form like my mind has become vast and endless.

"How would he help you"?
"The same way he helped you before silly" she laughs.

She grabbed my hand again and brought me In front of a mirror.

"Now stand here and don't move a muscle, I'm going to change your clothes for you since your strength will tear right through them".

Despite not knowing what's going on, I decide to listen to her not knowing how much damage I can cause. I take a look at myself in the mirror and my non-existent breath is knocked out of me. The woman in the mirror is remarkably stunning, with warm white skin and red copper hair with even redder eyes. And, almost like my eyes are a microscope I look deeper into my skin seeing the sun bounce and dance across the surface reflecting light in hues similar to cream moonstone with flecks of opal. I can't help but notice that something is missing from my reflection but I can't recall. I can't seem to recall much about anything prier to this moment and my anger spikes. This new and improved mind of mine and I can't remember a damn thing.

"When you stand In front of the kings be wise to keep your anger under check. The kings won't tolerate insolence. Yes, you were chosen to become apart of the guard but you are disposable".

She slips on a White wrap around dress around my torso. Its plain and cheap with fabric that scratches the skin which would usually leave me uncomfortable. She Proceeds to plop a pair of white flats in front of me

"Put these on, avoid touching anything, you'll just break it or rip it apart. Remember what I said earlier about how we won't replace it"?

I catch on quick to understand that she means the clothes...I'll be without if I damage them.

"Now...Me and Alec will head you down to the kings so they can assess what level in the guard you will be put in so we can start your training" she pause as she takes a look over of me "In the training you will be taught how to control you strength and speed, and you will be given a class on how to act around the kings and upper guard members if there is any for you". she says with a smile.

All of this knowledge is so confusing and there is no way I can keep up. I latch on to her hand as a fear rises within me. So far being here in this room with this woman I have been safe and now it feels as if she's throwing me to the wolves. So far I think I'm the same as everyone else here. They keep bringing up my powers but I don't even know what it is yet.

"please don't leave me, what if they dispose of me, what if I mess up"! I yell at her. Then, I hear the sound of stone cracking and I look down. Her hand is trapped in my grip, I don't think I grabbed her that hard but the sound of loose stone rubbing up against her hand within her glove is enough proof I did. I let go.

"I'm sorry" I mumble.

She flexes her hand and shakes it and then looks up at me with a strained smile.

"It alright, I know you didn't mean to, but this allows me to bring up another important thing you must do. After meeting the kings of course you will be taught more in the class, but when in front of them you must first bow and lower your gaze to the floor and when you rise up, lift up your hand for Aro to take". She then proceeds to take my shoulders into her hands.

"If I'm right, which I always am, you have a power that will put you at the top of the jacks...out side of Caius you will probably be his literal right hand man". She takes her hand outside of her glove and shows me that its perfectly fine with no injuries. "Your biggest problem will be from the twins with their jealousy". she giggles.

"What is my power"? I ask, still uncertain about my future. She glances down and takes her hand into mine and I'm hit with a flash of light taking over my vision, a babies cry, a woman and a man's soothing words, birthday songs, cheers of joy at soccer games, tears from break ups, laughter from friends, high school graduation, College and frat parties, a trip to Italy...a tour, a cold labyrinth, a man speaking of shared gifts, flames, fire, heat, pain, torture, screaming, heart pounding faster and faster until the final pump, silence, learning, training, drinking blood....I let go and fall to the ground in a panic. "you killed that person"! I scream, but I notice my throat burns and the memory of her first sip is the only thing playing in my mind and my mouth starts to water.

"and you will to, its the only....well here its the only way to survive". She puts the glove back on and takes my hand clawing at my throat into hers. "That burn in your throat will only get worse and here you eat when you have proven yourself capable of some decency. The tour you took should of helped you have some composure but it won't last forever, there was a time when everyone caused mayhem after waking up not being able to rein themselves in and it did them more harm than good. So far it seems that it it worked for you outside of some foggy memories but you did experience a new protocol to kick start the transformation, usually it takes three day if done properly but with new information we concluded if done in the intense manner we performed on you it should be quicker...you only took a day in a half, which means the next person I see that has powers that the kings would find beneficial that will happen to them as well". She peers deep into my eyes "It's better to just go with it, you fight it and you are punished. They've been doing this longer than you can imagine".

Grim...my future looks grim. There's no way I could kill a person to survive but it looks like I must. I think about bringing up how she enjoyed drinking that persons blood after her initial hesitation but I fear that would put me in deep water with her. Will I like it? Is that when I'll change and lose myself as a person and truly become what ever I am now.

"How does my power help the kings"? what is my role here in this place?
"Aro can read peoples thoughts, from your very first one at birth to current day, its my guess that with your ability and his combined there's no way for a vampire to usurp the Vulturi, and what Aro loves most is the Vulturi".

She lifts me up, fixes my clothes, and then places her hands on my face "You my dear friend are the start of a new policy".