Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Crisp night air washed over Alice’s skin as the sounds of the city roared in her ears. In the first moment she’d had in hours to rest in her haste to run, she had climbed a creaking, rusty fire escape, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until she was sure she had lost the tracker on her heels in the heavy, convoluted scents of the city. It was easy to get lost in these large, sprawling hubs the humans crafted and built ever higher, and that was never clearer than it was at the edge of the random building atop which she had paused. She was all but unable to pinpoint a singular sound amongst the hundreds of conversations, the creaking of buildings, the honk of horns and crunch of metal… save for one, which superseded all else.

Blood.

Her mouth watered at the thought of the sustenance she had been forced to neglect for the weeks she had been running. The tracker had chased her from continent to continent, and it was only owing to the visions that suggested his next move that she was able to stay a step ahead- barely. Alice didn’t know what he looked like, or who had sent him- and it didn’t matter. He may have pushed her to the point of exhaustion, but once she had a little blood in her system, she would lose him for good and disappear. Pushed to this severe an exhaustion, the visions that flitted across her vision ceased to make sense, and it would take but one mistake to send her tumbling into the tracker's grasp.

Why he was on her trail in the first place, she had yet to puzzle out. The bits of the future with him in it, thanks to her talent of running, were few and far between. They changed too quickly for her to get a solid grasp on any purpose he might have. She was good at it- disappearing, that is. Over the centuries, she had certainly had a lot of practice.

The puzzling of her pursuer... not so much.

She supposed it was a good thing she knew so little; it meant she was ahead of the danger.

Alice intended to keep it that way.

Her head twitched, breaking her concentration. A pinprick of pain bloomed over one of her eyes. The sight of the city at night before her was momentarily replaced by a sunny day in the near future- tomorrow-? Next week-? She shook the dregs of the vision away, her dark eyes roaming the cobblestone walkways in search of someone, anyone… anything that would slake the burning thirst in her throat. 

The path below her was busy. People dressed in warm coats, fine dresses, and all manner of attire rushed to and fro, on their way home from work or on their way to some locale of entertainment. The flickering of the future that constantly dragged at the back of her mind grew hazier as her eyes moved between them, struggling to pick out one person amongst the dozens passing before her. It felt almost as if she were sifting not through the cluster of human scents, but their ever-changing futures.

A flash of glossy hair and a quick-beating heart caught her attention. Her eyes fell to the human woman walking aimlessly on the street below, her head low and her shoulders hunched inward as she wove through the other pedestrians. Why would her pulse be so quick for her apparent lack of speed? Curious, Alice rose, flitting across the edge of the roof and leaping from it to the next building as she trailed in the human’s wake.

A fleeting, crooked smile beneath a beam of moonlight momentarily blinded her, and her foot hit the edge of the building before she could leap to the next. Her stumble surprised her, and she ducked down as her target's footsteps slowed. 

If she had been a human, she swore her heart would have been pounding in her chest. 

What had that been?

Despite the agony lancing her throat, she reached for the tendrils of the vision that had passed so quickly across her mind’s eye that she feared it was imagination. That smile–she thought she had seen a glimmer of that before, back when she had thrown herself from the southern tip of Italy and into the Mediterranean Sea. The man that owned it was a mystery. The harried escape she had then been forced to make had since consumed her, forcing any concern of the future beyond her survival far from her thoughts.

Now, it seemed that finally stopping for respite after weeks of evading pursuit had led the future to barrel into her.

But, no– the tendrils that had prompted that particular sight had retreated, remaining infuriatingly hidden. 

She blew out a breath, focusing her sight back on the crowd far beneath her. The woman was still pacing, heading towards what appeared to be the park at the center of the city. 

Her mind focused on the task before her.

She needed blood, and quickly.

Survival first. Questions later.

The corner of Alice's mouth tilted up, the prospect of a hunt thrilling her. The guilt that shadowed it was easily tamped down with the burn of her throat a constant reminder of what she lacked. She turned and walked the edge of the building towards the secluded alley, and nimbly dropped from the roof to the cracked pavement below. The concrete felt cool beneath her hands, the constructed sensation almost alien she rose and stepped forward. The running shoes she had lifted from the back of someone's car felt strange upon her feet, a sensation she wasn’t used to after weeks of running barefoot. The feel of the earth beneath her feet was what had grounded her; it was a reminder of her need to survive.

She wasn't sure what had waylaid the tracker from her path, but she knew with absolute certainty that he was far enough away that this was her chance. Alice's nose wrinkled at the thought that crossed her mind, comparing herself to the useless human tourists that stopped to fuel up their gas tanks and stomachs at local gas stations before continuing their meaningless journeys. She stepped out of the alley and into the crowd, holding her head high and moving with purpose.

The woman was waiting at the crosswalk, her hands now shoved deep into her pockets. She seemed to be lost in thought as Alice paused near the corner-store, tuning into the stranger's path forward. Her future-sight was an imprecise skill, but occasionally she could twist it to find what she needed… ah, yes–she would head for the pond on the eastern side of the park. The glimmer Alice was able to grasp showed a tear-tracked face and oddly, a duck. She brushed the vision aside, finding it unimportant-

A man walking against the flow of pedestrian traffic slammed into her, momentarily distracting her. She pivoted on the ball of her foot, her nose wrinkling as her eyes tracked his retreat. He seemed not to notice her, the set of his shoulders stiff, and his hands shoved deep within his pockets. The scent of antiseptic and mint flooded her nose, and her nose wrinkled as she watched him ignore the slight. 

Ordinarily, she wouldn't care. Humans had as much grace as elephants did- no, she thought, that would be an insult to the animals. With her gnawing hunger brought tumultuous stream of emotions, the almost-alien threads of anger chief among them, she found herself with the desire to do something she hardly ever did. Changing her mind mid-hunt had always felt sloppy.

She read the challenge in the human's eyes easily. He was angry, too, it seemed, eager for her to engage with him.

Alice rocked back on her heels, cooling her nerves, then turned away.

He muttered under his breath, the sound lost in the noise of the city, before he slipped inside the store and shuffled up to the cashier. The slip of his calloused fingers against the worn leather of his wallet was the last thing she heard as she fought to regain control.

Alice's hands curled into fists at her side, tamping down the stray emotion. Her head twisted back in the direction of her quarry- she spied the hunch of the woman's shoulders still paused at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn.

Good, she thought, and turned right to head down to the next street. Assuming the woman's path didn't change, Alice would arrive at the park just minutes after her.

The streets were unusually populated- or was that a weakness? She had become accustomed to traversing vast stretches of abandoned and empty territories while alone. Even with a tracker on her heels, that was a habit of hers that hadn't changed. Cities quickly became overwhelming, and she was seeing that now as she wove through the others on the sidewalk.

But the humans that crawled about these cities were so intriguing. It had once been a favorite pastime of hers to watch them; to cast herself in their shoes, and wonder if her own, forgotten human life was anything like theirs. Never knowing who she had been, she found herself searching for her reflection in the eyes of strangers. 

The jumbled faces in the crowd popped out at her, though none felt especially memorable: a mother with wrinkles beginning to set around her eyes rushing home from work, a bag of fresh vegetables and a loaf of stale bread tucked safely in a paper bag; a pair of drunk college kids giggling as they exited a bar, the high pitch of their voices ringing in Alice's ears; a leering man in a dark jacket peeking out at her from behind a dumpster, the scent of beer and grime clinging to his skin. She forced herself to ignore all of them, forgetting their faces and the suggestions of their futures- a promotion, an accident, a life alone- as she took the roundabout way towards her singular destination. 

Her head was beginning to burn alongside the pain that had moved from her throat to what felt like her teeth. They ached in her mouth, reminding her of her harried need to feed. Cities were great to become lost in, though they were not without their risks, especially as involved in crowds as she was now. She hurried forward, trusting that her future-sight would calm once she was away from the multitude of people.

The next crosswalk hosted a gaggle of party-goers and a trio of relaxed office workers beginning to move across it, and she jumped from the curb to blend in behind them. Her clothes, which were also stolen, had belonged to a young professional. The thin, satin straps of the camisole, which crisscrossed over her shoulders and back, and the fashionable, snug black pants let her blend right in- as if she were lagging slightly behind the chattering men loosening the ties from their pulsing throats. 

Her eyes lingered on the sight of the vein in the older man's throat, inhaling the sweet scent that rolled off his skin. Alice's mouth salivated at the suggestion of blood; how long it had been since she had last had any. Surely she could change her course... Her shoes dragged against the pavement as she resisted the urge to fling herself into the group. It would be a short-term solution to her problem, and out in the open like this would invite not only the tracker, but- others, humans who knew too much about vampire-kind and had the means to interfere.

A couple more blocks, and the refuge of the park and the sustenance it promised would be hers. 

She glanced up towards the tops of the buildings, swallowing hard. With her head beginning to spin the way it was, Alice didn't think it would be wise to return to her perch. She didn't need the future to tell her it would risk being sloppy, and worse- seen. 

Her steps quickened as the crowds began to thin. The partygoers she had been coasting behind turned into another bar, their voices fading on the night air behind them as she breezed past. The reek of booze and sweat poured from the door. Alice barely reminded herself to keep a human enough pace; her kind moved quickly, and she needed to take care to not alert any stray attention. 

It was what had gotten her into the mess with the stupid tracker, anyway.

And after a little blood, with a small compulsion to make the person forget, she would be well on her way to safety once more. Whatever the woman was upset about could perhaps be compelled away, as well. Alice skipped forward, the decision settling within her. It was a win-win, she thought in an attempt to convince herself; a filling meal for her, and a reason to forget for the human. 

In the end, isn't that what they all wanted? To forget their aches, their woes, even for just a moment?

Insects buzzed as she drew closer to the park, the bat of their wings a steady drone. Small, unappetizing animals scuttled through the bushes as she set foot into the grassy space, which spanned the distance of at least half a city block- she didn't know, and no longer cared. Her focus slid briefly to the animals scurrying away. She normally never thought twice of animal blood... but if the pain got worse, she knew she would be desperate enough to succumb. Her nose wrinkled at the thought.

The din of the city faded as she ventured further in, ambling over the concrete path which gave way to a worn, almost-familiar pathway.

She stopped short upon finding the pond she had seen reflected by the woman. The crying human was seated right where Alice had known she would be- and, to her surprise, a duck floated towards the center of the pond, leaving small ripples in its wake. The trickling, unavoidable sense of satisfaction at being right with her prediction flooded Alice’s chest, overshadowing all else.

Alice rolled her shoulders, glanced around for any other humans in the area, and lunged, fangs bared.

Other vampires had preferences for who they hunted. There were those who liked the rich, drawing their fill from those drunk with gluttony. Others hunted addicts, seeking out the sickeningly sweet threads of the drugs in their veins. Some killed their victims; some turned them. Others were like Alice, vanishing the memories and disappearing from the humans' sights before they could process being bitten. She didn’t suppose she had a preference, aside from trying to leave the human in a better state than she found them in. A trade, one might say, though none would call it even. She was nothing if not someone who liked to give back.

That was her plan here as her teeth pierced the woman’s neck. The human struggled, her hands flying and scrabbling against Alice's grip on her shoulders. The first burst of blood across Alice’s tongue was such a deep relief as it spread through her body. Her precognition slowed, staying in its boundaries at the edges of her consciousness as she drank. The clarity that seeped through her mind was such utter relief that she could have groaned. Already, she felt the strength she had lacked over the last few weeks returning to her limbs. She took several greedy gulps of the thick, precious liquid, finding it impossible to tear herself away.

The jolting realization that she was ready to drain the woman before her, followed by the keen understanding that she didn't even care, was overshadowed by a sudden flash of pain.

Something was terribly wrong. 

Twinges of pain spread from her throat to the rest of her body, first seizing her chest before traveling down her limbs. She broke away from the human, her mouthful of blood pouring from her lips and painting the front of her camisole a silken, damned crimson as she staggered back, gagging on the poison pervading her lips. 

The human was swearing, but not with the panic that Alice might have expected. Rather, her hands were shaking with with anger, her face twisted with annoyance- directed not just at Alice but someone else.

Alice's head spun. Try as she could, she couldn't make sense of the agony that had replaced what she thought was the worst pain a vampire could experience. She staggered, hands curling at her throat as the woman snapped at nothing.

“-the last time I’m used as fucking bait-”

Alice choked, her hand flying to her throat. Her legs shook, then crumpled beneath her, sending her falling to the earth as she clawed at the burning skin of her neck and chest.

The woman’s head tilted, then she turned back to Alice. She lifted her other hand to press against the wound in her neck. “Hmph. At least we got you this time. What's that thing they say? I forget.” She squatted down, tilting her head to meet Alice's eyes, a wry grin stretching across her face. In the faint light from the moon and through the haze of her pain, Alice could make out gleaming brown eyes. "Wait... that's right. Third time's the charm."

A spasm took over Alice’s body, and her focus pulled away before she could make sense of what that meant. Whatever was spreading through her body conflicted with her sense of reality– rather than glimmers of the future flitting past her eyes, she was pulled under for whole, blinding seconds where she knew nothing of the physical world. In between the flashes of a snarling blond man and the gleeful laugh of an ancient vampire, other humans– hunters, as she was beginning to realize– stepped into the small clearing by the pond.

Someone moved to the woman, who had risen to stand over Alice's writhing body. The other person held out a swath of bandages, which the woman all but tore from his outstretched hand and pressed to her neck.

"Were you able to get the other one?"

"Blondie?" the man asked, his face twisting in a sneer. "Nah. Wasn't weak like this one."

Other one? What other one?

Did they mean the tracker? Or another vampire entirely? 

The woman scoffed. "Yeah, weak. The hole in my damn neck says otherwise." For the first time, she winced, readjusting the bandage. "Someone cuff her before we draw attention. Last thing we need is the cops coming this way."

"Yeah. On it."

While her muscles continued their painful spasming, she was barely aware of burning metal as it clamped around her limbs and the drag of her body against the grass before she was thrown into the back of a vehicle that reeked of the conflicting scents of antiseptic and cigarette smoke.

For the first time in centuries, her world went dark.

The crack of a metal weapon across her jaw sent her head snapping to the side, and lurched her from the strange haze that had pulled her into unconsciousness. A prickling warmth, too biting to be anything welcome, had fallen across her lap. She dragged her gaze up, finding the curtains pulled back from a window which cast a ray of sunlight across her lap. The dizzying spin of the room pulled into focus, the various scents of humans flooding her nose as she concentrated her sight on the present. Sweat, soap, colognes- it mixed together with the chemicals still in the air in a nauseating swell. The people they belonged to, clad in jeans and leather, were scattered before her eyes.

Slowly, as her sight cleared, they came into focus.

The woman from the park. The man Alice remembered turning into the corner-store. Two of the party-goers, their jovial grins and glittering halter tops gone. A half dozen faces swam before her eyes, her stomach roiling as the gravity of her situation set in. She pitched forward, retching venom and half-digested blood as the sunlight seared the skin of her cheek. The agony was acute, narrowing her focus to the singular present as the humans around her tittered in their raspy voices. She flung backward, pitching instead to the side. Her movement, though it used her strength, only rocked the chair slightly, and left her arm in the path of the sun.

This was hell. Or it would be, shortly. The burning of the sun stripped her flesh, and the fingers of her left hand held a distinct feeling of disintegration. Her hand shook, trying to escape the sensation of her bones cracking beneath the charring skin-

The yank of the cord to the curtain above the window snapped. The blinding heat pressing across every inch of her body vanished, replaced by a blissful dark.

Her eyes moved over her hands, watching the wounds inflicted there begin to heal- slowly, haphazardly, waylaid by the blessed chains encircling her limbs. She breathed slowly, trying to gather herself. What the hunters would consider blessed tools were cursed for vampires.

Someone’s boot connected with her shoulder, and her spine cracked against the metal of the chair. She raised her head, her pupils blown wide and her lips twisted in fury even with the mess dripping from them. One of the straps holding her camisole up had snapped, the bloodied fabric falling in tatters about her shoulders.

“Are you sure this is her?” the man said, taking a step back and crossing his arms as he assessed Alice. She snapped at him, her teeth grinding together as she tried to force her vision to remain rooted in the present. With the swimming sensation in her eyes, three of his faces– and the god-awful mustache on each one of them–were swaying back and forth before her. 

In vain, she strained against the binds of her chair, which cut deeper against her skin. She stopped, smart enough to recognize the futility of the action. A cold drop of truth traced down her back. No amount of force would release her.

She was at these humans' mercy.

"Yeah, this is her,” said the woman who Alice had thought only hours before was prey. Her shaky glare shot in that direction; gone was the cowering woman stumbling haphazardly through the city, and then trudging through the park. That whisper of a woman was replaced by a steely, cold glare of her own. Her throat had been bandaged, small dots of blood beginning to dot its center. The sight, and the memory of her wicked blood, made Alice recoil. The difference in her was so stark that Alice might have thought a doppelganger was standing before her were it not for the course of the human veins thrumming beneath her skin. “Right where your anonymous tip said she’d be.” 

Tip. How humans had gotten the better of her, Alice couldn't begin to guess.  She hadn’t seen their intention until she had been upon the woman, sinking her teeth into the rest of a meal that had been delayed nearly weeks. No, that wasn't quite right. She hadn't seen their intention at all, until she had consumed the poison that the woman bore in her veins as eagerly as a starving beggar to a laden buffet.

Her eyes slid shut.

This close to escaping one pursuer... and fallen right into the clutches of another.

"Well," the voice of the mustached man said. Alice's eyes opened, settling upon him as he dragged a wooden chair over and straddled it, resting his arms along the back as he stared back at her. The edge of his mouth lifted in a grimace. "Christ Almighty. Don't usually get to see a vampire's eyes up close."

The admission confused her. Did he mean the red of her irises? The blackened edges of them? Markers that only appeared after a hunt, or when she was in danger?

"I should think not," she said evenly, her voice soft. A few of them shifted in surprise as she spoke. She blinked hard, willing the strange coloring to recede. "It usually means death."

To the surprise of Alice, and the others in the room, he threw his head back- and laughed. She stared at him, eyes wide, as his shaking shoulders stilled and he looked back up at her.

"We have some questions for you," he continued, his voice a touch kinder. It didn't fool her. She knew better than to trust the lies that were saturating his voice; hunters weren't in the business of telling the truth. "I'm trusting you'll be cooperative."

A flash of a stake above her heart momentarily replaced him.

She didn't suspect she would leave this room alive, but then, she supposed she had been damned from the moment the blood hit her tongue- perhaps even further back, when the tracker had first set his sights on her, or even further, when she had stepped alone into a vast world without her coven's protection.

"Well," Alice replied, deciding that she would play with them as much as possible before they dispatched her and sent her to wherever vampires went when they died- where her coven now was, perhaps?- and feed them half-truths and outright lies. She drew out the word, weighing his statement. "Between you and me, I think you'll find I'm an open book."

"Cute," the woman said drily. "Is this what we're doing, Charlie?" At his sharp look, she corrected herself with an eyeroll. "Dad? Playing interview with the monster?"

The woman's father raised his eyes to hers. With that connection in place, Alice saw their similarities. Heavy brown eyes, the arch of their brows, the slope of their noses. That was where their similarities ended; where the man was strong, with broad shoulders and tattooed arms, the woman was lithe and covered in scars.

"Flies and honey, Bells," he said, seeming to remind her of a past conversation Alice was not privy to. "We're not torturing her."

They already had, but Alice suspected this would not be a helpful suggestion.

His daughter's jaw clenched, and she crossed her arms as she rocked her hip to the side. Her chin jutted in Alice's direction. "This thing isn't human, Dad. You know better than anyone in this room that they just look like us."

Still, Alice did not speak. Instead of hurt at the monstrous label she had been given- clinically speaking, the woman wasn't wrong- she found her curiosity warmed at the conflict before her... and at the hint of pain in the voice of the human.

"You asked for my help, Bells." Charlie shrugged and spread his hands. "This is it. I can go right back to the west coast if you want."

His daughter's face darkened as she considered his words.

Curious, indeed- this group didn't normally work together. How many of the gathered people were Charlie's colleagues, and how many his daughter's?

Finally, "Bells" rolled her eyes, uncrossing her arms and stalking towards the door. "When she doesn't give you the intel we need, I'll be outside. It'd be faster to do it my way." 

Then she was gone, the metal door slamming behind her. Alice flinched as the sound rang in her ears, her shoulders curling inward momentarily before she steeled herself.

"Charming," she observed, shifting her legs to try and find a more comfortable position. "I don't suppose you could unchain me?"

At this, the man raised his eyebrows. "You bit my daughter, nearly drained her- and you want me to release you?" He scoffed, the sound akin to another laugh. "Not happening."

Her empty stomach twinged, and she sagged back against the chair. The effort of expelling the poisons from her body left her in some strange, depressed state. Her limbs were heavy, her throat sore; even if he did release her, she wasn't sure she would be able to harm any of them. She eyed a young woman in glasses who had a shotgun trained at her. Alice didn't need a vision to know she wouldn't get very far.

"If I'm going to die, it'd be nice to at least be comfortable," she offered. She thought again of the way she fixed the memories of the people she fed from. Not every vampire did that. But then- hunters and vampires weren't the same, were they?

"Yeah. Sorry this isn't the Four Seasons," he said in a way that made plain he was not, in fact, sorry. He cleared his throat. "Name's Charlie. Time to answer those questions."

She hummed her reply, her eyes traveling over the confines of the room, which was large enough to comfortably house their unwilling party. One window which led outside, but barred. Five hunters, including the one seated before her. The hunter Charlie called "Bells" in the other room, potentially with more people. The shelves on the back wall held rows of sterile tools and other supplies she couldn't name. A wooden table bore a smattering of weapons. Above them, the lights flickered. A generator under strain?

As sure as death felt in this situation, there might be something she could use to escape. Her future-sight was, more than usual, frustratingly confused and beyond her control.

She almost felt disappointed the tracker had vanished from them. She would have liked to see some of these hunters torn apart. Her mouth soured; she shook the cruel thought away.

"Alright," Alice agreed. "What would you like to know?"

Of all the questions she might have expected, she was sure her real answers would disappoint them. Was she alone? Did she have a coven? Where were they? Did she know this vampire that was killing his way up the coast? Did she know this other that had wormed her way into the family of a prominent politician? Had she killed anyone? Was she going to? The questions swirled within her mind, a dozen answers rising to the tip of her tongue.

Charlie's face grew serious as he leaned closer. His thumb tapped erratically against the back of the chair, the only giveaway that he was not as calm as he appeared.

"Tell us what you know of the Volturi."

Well, she thought as the surprise slackened her jaw. That was unexpected.

Chapter Text

The question hung in the air between them, unanswered.

She dragged her eyes from face to face, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she searched for any crack in expression. 

What do you know about the Volturi?

With no answers found in the practiced facades of the hunters, Alice shifted back, twisting her arms in their painful bindings as she considered the question. Her head tilted as she studied Charlie's face, trying to guess the intent behind his dark, stony eyes. In the flickers of the future that dragged at her focus, there was no elaboration to his question- he was waiting for her answer to decide what to say next. 

How strange this human was. The back of her neck prickled- did he know she could see the future..? 

Alice could think of no other reason for the utter lack of visions attached to him. It wasn't that they didn't exist. No- somehow, he knew, and he was able to manipulate the way he appeared within them. Or… was he? She had known for many decades that the weaker she was, the more erratic her visions became. It was already a difficult task to control them when she was well-fed. How much of this was due to her hunger, and how much was due to the ingenuity of the humans?

The mystery was… unnerving.

She wanted to attribute them no credit, but that would make her a hypocrite.

She glanced down. The front of the camisole was crusted with dried blood, dirt, and the pale threads of venom. The fabric, once silky and soft, was now stiff against her skin. The bindings around her arms and legs were leaving dark, bloody bruises against her skin. She wasn't sure what the blessed material was made of, just that it stung and that she wanted nothing more than to be free of it.

The only thing she knew with any certainty was the prevailing desire to kill her.

What could a group of hunters want with the Volturi? 

She had nothing to do with the largest coven in the world, and she never would. The thought of the ancient coven sent a thrill of hot anger through her body. They were ancient, powerful, and absolute. They had existed long before she awoke as a vampire, and they would exist long after she had desiccated.

There wasn’t a vampire alive- or, undead, perhaps she should say- that didn’t know about the Volturi. Even the newest of their kind came to find out just how far the Volturi’s reach stretched. 

Many had tried and failed to make a stand against the Volturi. Since they had come to power nearly a millennia ago, their reign had been irrevocable. 

She had never seen a world in which it wasn’t. Any search for answers had been disappointing.

For a long time, it had been better not to think about it.

Alice released a weary sigh. 

“Before I answer your questions, Charlie,” she said, “I have to know. How will you kill me?”

His eyes narrowed. “You tell me,” he said evenly. “You have your pick of methods in this room.”

She laughed. “Amusing. Any chance you'll let me walk away once I've answered? I promise I'll be honest.”

His eyes tightened. “We both know the answer to that.”

Her eyes flickered. The visions that came of her death were unbidden, though she had expected them in some form or another. They weren't very creative, for hunters. Beheading, staking, burning… Injecting her with more of that wretched blood filled with poison. Just how many of the hunters present had imbibed whatever disease had painted the veins of that "Bells”? How had they done- what was it?

From the smell in the air, she would guess all of them bore it. It cloistered around the humans, almost like a shield. 

For once, she wished she had a stronger control over her visions of the future. 

She wished they would tell her a way out. 

“Perhaps you could make it swift,” Alice suggested. “I'm not very partial to the type of blood I was served last night. I prefer chilled.”

The corner of Charlie's mouth twitched. “Right.” He waved a hand. “An acquired taste, I’d expect.”

Alice couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. The blood that was dried upon her chin cracked and flaked. She suspected she painted an ugly picture; a couple of the other humans shifted back, their expressions twisting. She didn't care; let them think of her as a beast. It wouldn't be any different to how they treated her.

“Hmm. Not like the Volturi.” Her fingers tapped again against the armrest of her seat. Prickles of fire ran down the back of her hand with the motion. “You'll find they aren't something many of us can stomach.”

“They're the acting authority in the vampire world,” Charlie returned. 

“Cute. You seem to know about them already; I can’t imagine what more I could give you.”

“You know more than you’re letting on- their leaders, their ranks… their abilities.”

Her interest piqued, though her face remained neutral. How curious- so they did know about the abilities of vampires as she had suspected. What did they know of hers? She itched to know how they had evaded her sight back in the city, and how they had taken her here, to this room- wherever here was. 

Alice shrugged again. “They weren't exactly elected. I stay out of their way, and they don’t seem to bother me.” 

A lie. It was the fault of the Volturi that she had no coven. 

No, she thought with no small amount of regret. The fault is mine.

Her eye twitched as another vision swelled on the horizon, warring with the others already begging her attention- this one of a gas station, somewhere remote and rainy. She pushed against it, fighting to stay focused on the man in front of her. Her empty stomach churned. The yawning emptiness within her was making it difficult to focus on the present before her eyes. More glimpses of the future wormed their way forward. The promise of the looming dark that awaited her after the numerous ways they were considering killing her coalesced as a lump in her throat.

Alice's head twitched.

“Charlie,” she admonished, blinking against a different vision of more poison dribbling from her mouth as she hacked against it. Alice could almost taste the foul liquid and feel it seep into her lungs. With her weakness so severe, it seemed she had less control over the things she saw. On the brink of death was a terrible time to find out. “I thought you wouldn't torture me. Did you change your mind?” 

“That’s not my style,” he agreed. “Spilled blood needs a reason. Otherwise we’re no better than monsters ourselves.” 

He rose from his chair, pacing to one of the shelves with supplies. No, she realized as he picked up a smooth handle, weapons.

“Don’t give me a reason to torture you.”

Alice snorted at the irony. “Sorry,” she said quickly, catching the unimpressed expression on his face. “Sorry. It’s just… You main, you torture, you kill. To hunt monsters you must become monstrous. It's funny. You're no better than me.” Her head tilted back, and she watched as the lights flickered once again. “Ah… what to say about the Volturi.”

A few of the humans shifted. She wasn’t sure why there were so many of them to begin with- what she did know was that their futures were conflicting, loud. Perhaps that was the reason for their presence. 

“One leader,” she said at last. “No ranks, aside from their treasured guard. As for what you call abilities, vampires refer to them as talents. The Talented, for those who possess… extra gifts beyond the physical ones each of us are endowed with.” 

Speed, strength, senses. Each was enhanced when a fledgling vampire was turned.

Some vampires were luckier than others.

“Such as?”

Alice hummed, considering the abilities she knew of. They were many. “Mind-reading, manipulation, illusions. There are all manner of talents. I hear there’s even a newly-turned who can control the very elements.” She tilted her head forward. “Aro is a collector, you see. He stores them away in his castle.”

She had witnessed firsthand the breadth of the Volturi's talents. Aro had truly cultivated a frightening force. They had tortured her coven with their myriad of powers before killing them, one-by-one.

Her mouth soured at the memory of the smoke that belonged to her coven’s pyres. The screams that had been ripped from their throats still rang in her ears; it was a sound she would never be able to forget. 

At the helm of it all had been those cursed, black cloaks that marked their murderers as members of the Volturi. 

She had been running ever since.

When she spoke again, she hoped her voice didn’t warble. The pain of the family she had lost was still visceral, even centuries later.

“They live all over the world. Their reach is far, their knowledge near omnipotent. I can’t imagine what you want with knowledge of their coven.” 

That wasn’t quite a lie, though she knew it sounded like one. The Volturi made their home in Italy, though why they had chosen such a sunny country was a mystery to her. Every attempt she had made to uncover more information had led to dead-ends or personal danger, and she had long ago abandoned any hunt for knowledge. 

She knew they had informants that lived across the world, and others who brought back humans and vampires alike. Perhaps there were even those who returned home with other supernatural creatures. She wouldn’t put it past the way the Volturi operated- they were the largest collection of Talented vampires in the entirety of recorded history. It stood to reason that Aro might cast his sights even further.

Alice shuddered at the thought.

“Don’t lie,” the woman holding the shotgun warned. She shifted her grip on her weapon. Alice’s gaze slid her way. She was tall and thin, with large glasses balanced on a slightly curved nose. Alice wondered what they would look like broken. Perhaps she would find out.

She pretended to pout. “What, you don’t trust me? I’m shocked.” Her voice was beginning to sound hoarse. She swallowed, though it remained dry. 

“We know there are three leaders, not one,” Charlie said, resuming control over the conversation. “Aro, Marcus, and Caius. That…” His mouth twisted as he debated on how much he should reveal. “Well, it’s about all we know, along with their… whatever you called them. The Talented.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes, feeling exasperated. 

“Then you know what I do,” she said, gritting her teeth as another roil of nausea churned her stomach. “Better, perhaps, that you kill me now. Get it out of the way.”

Shotgun scoffed, her weapon dipping towards the ground. “Bella was right. This was a waste of time. This thing doesn’t know anything more about the Volturi than the last one did.” 

Curious. They had managed to outsmart not just one, but two vampires.

She didn't need to ask what had happened to the last one.

She wondered if the dark stains decorating the floor beneath her feet belonged to them.

“The tip was pretty specific, Ange,” Charlie said, his cool facade beginning to crack as he turned an annoyed eye upon the taller woman. “This vampire.”

“What do we even know about whoever was behind it?” she demanded. “For all we know, it’s just another monster playing games. Anonymous tip? Who hasn’t seen that play out badly before?”

“It… honestly isn’t a lot to go on, Charlie,” another man piped up, crossing his arms over his chest. He grimaced. “She isn’t a member of the Volturi. She knows just as much as we do, maybe even less.”

Charlie scowled. 

Though they continued speaking, Alice began to tune them out, her focus distracted by the pain reverberating through her body. It thrummed against her skin, crawling and echoing in such an agonizing way that she thought it might be better to let them kill her. 

Her throat was so dry. As the arguing voices of the hunters faded, they were replaced by their erratic pulses. Nausea roiled within her at the memory of the poison she had digested from one of their number. 

How had Bella gotten her blood to turn so toxic? How had Alice not smelled it before she sank her teeth into what she had thought of as a relief for the thirst dragging at her body? 

These hunters were human. She was certain of it. Whatever poison clung to their scents wasn’t naturally occurring… but she couldn’t fathom what it could possibly be. 

The room tilted dangerously to the side. The edges of her vision were darkening, and she forced herself to focus on something- anything. They connected with the leader's boots. 

She sucked in a deep breath, pressing her back flat to the chair and trying to ground herself to consciousness. She couldn’t afford to be unaware. 

A glimpse of the very same boot kicking into another person’s gut flashed across her sight, and she hissed at the pain that began to bloom in her skull.

The truth was it didn't matter what they promised her- she wouldn't believe it anymore than they would believe anything that fell from her lips. Even if she foresaw herself walking from whatever hovel they had tied her up in and escaping into the city- no, she thought, her ears picking up the crunch of pine needles, the forest - she wouldn't believe it.

Alice hated being so vulnerable. She hardly had a clear picture of where she was, just that it was isolated- and beyond the hunters still in the room, she knew nothing of the inhabitants of this place beyond the four walls. 

She had learned the hard way that the future was never set in stone.

Not even the dozens of futures that were laid before her in this room- not just her own death, but the lives of the hunters debating amongst themselves about their best course of action. 

They might delay her death. They might starve her over weeks- months, if they were feeling especially cruel. If nothing else, they needed whatever information they thought she had- which, even if she wanted to share it, was regrettably little. They would then return to their lives, hunting their chosen brand of monster and attending to day jobs and hobbies and myriad of strange interests. Some would die relatively soon. Some would live for many more decades. 

None of that mattered. All of it mattered. She was almost sick with the noise in her head. Her eyes burned with the suggestion of tears, though her body was depleted of anything to produce them. It was often that she found herself filled with self-loathing at her lack of control of her talent. It felt almost karmic that the very thing that failed her coven would now fail her. 

Here she was, deep in a den of monsters who called themselves humans, with visions tumultuously hurdling her way without reprieve. 

It would all come down to her will. Could she hold out against the torture that awaited her? Desperation was already tugging at her. How long would it be before she cracked?

This hunting patriarch may be slow to use violence, but it didn’t take a genius to see that his daughter did not share the same approach. Alice's eyes ticked towards Angela, whose face was twisted in annoyance as she shot a quick rebuttal back at Charlie. She seemed to agree with Bella's approach. She wondered over the other hunters; she couldn't tell who had come with Charlie, and who were local and loyal to Bella.

Perhaps in that familial and professional disconnect lay her escape.

She steeled herself against the warnings appearing in her future.

After all, it wasn't set in stone.

Charlie sank back down in his seat, a new weapon in hand. Alice grimaced at the sight of a morning-star. Through the haze of her aching head, the metal spikes seemed especially wicked. 

She heard his silent threat. Continue offering information, or they would turn to less savory methods of interrogation.

Her old coven leader might call this an impasse. Personally, she found it divinely cruel.

She had been so close to escaping the hunter on her trail. Whatever tracking gift he had would have been admirable, if it hadn’t sent her into a panic trying to escape. So close to freedom.

She turned the question over in her head again. What did she even know about the Volturi, other than the memories of their brutal murder of her coven? 

“Look,” Alice interrupted. The room fell silent. Half a dozen pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction. “The Volturi rose to power a thousand years ago and have kept such a tight control over it because of the many Talented in their ranks. Their leader is a collector, you see.”

“A collector?” 

Alice squeezed her eyes shut. Angela's voice stirred a sight of bloody intestines and medical gauze. “Tell you what. Send the bulk of these people out into the rest of the house, and I’ll tell you all about it.” 

Charlie scowled. “Thought you were an open book. What changed?” 

“That is the honest-to-God truth,” she agreed. “I’d cross my heart if I could. But every single person in this room- including you, Charlie- have a future that is just so… loud. I can hardly focus.” 

He glowered for a moment, glancing over the others.

“If you need a bodyguard that badly, Shotgun- Ange- Angela ? Keep her.” 

It took another moment of deliberation filled with continued pain before Charlie spoke. “I’m disinclined to humor you. You haven’t told us anything worthwhile.” 

Alice groaned. “Oh, please,” she hissed. “You still think the Volturi is led by three. Everyone knows Aro is the one who calls the shots, regardless of what they would have you think. It is his control that keeps the Volturi in power, and it is his interest in building an army of the Talented that-”

She cut herself off, clenching her jaw and glaring hard into the corner of the room. At last, her visions seemed to have exhausted themselves. She was met with a halting quiet.

“I can only imagine you’ve gotten it into your head that you can dismantle the Volturi. Many before have tried and failed. If you believe nothing else I tell you, believe this. There is no standing against them. They are absolute. To challenge the Volturi is to invite death upon yourselves.” 

She released a sigh.

“What could you want with them, anyway?” 

Charlie stared back at her. 

She hoped that hideous mustache wouldn’t be the last thing she saw. More and more, it seemed her most likely fate. 

A cruel desire bloomed within her to rip it from his face.

She tamped it down.

“Perhaps the better question is… why are their trackers so set on you?” he wondered, almost to himself. 

She blinked. The tracker that was after her belonged to the Volturi? She considered this new piece of information. She had briefly thought of the possibility while she had been running, given where his chase had started in Europe. But it-

Wait.

“Trackers? Plural?” she asked, leaning forward.

Angela’s eyebrows furrowed. Charlie seemed equally confused. 

She had never known the identity of who she had thought had been one pursuer. She knew it was another vampire- no other creature would be able to keep up with her in terms of endurance- but she had assumed it was another loner, perhaps one who had given in to baser instincts and seeking the thrill of a chase. A few of the older ones were like that; they had grown so bored and disinterested in human pursuits of knowledge and money that they gave in to those instincts and sought the rush of adrenaline that came from hunting another vampire.

They were annoyances at best; she could usually outrun them. This was the first one she had been genuinely afraid of catching her with how steadily he seemed to keep pace with her.

Somehow, despite her fear of the Volturi, they hadn’t ranked high on her list of suspects.

“Thought your kind was meant to be… I don’t know. Smart,” the man who had spoken earlier said. He lifted a hand to scratch at his ear, grimacing. 

Alice glowered, her lip curling in a snarl. A bead of sweat tracked down the side of the man’s face, though his jaw clenched to hide his nerves. “The panic of being prey has a way of dampening your senses, boy. Unchain me and test it yourself.” 

His face paled. The sour scent of fear filled the room. Vindication filled her.

“You wouldn’t make it past the chair,” Angela retorted, shifting her shotgun higher. 

“Our tip said a female vampire with an ability to see the future would be in the city on the 3rd- there you were,” Charlie elaborated. “It said you were pursued by a team of Volturran trackers.”

That was certainly new information. Alice had only known of the one that had trailed her across the world- perhaps because he was the one who had come the closest to catching her. 

The revelation that the Volturi were the ones responsible for the tracker- and apparently, his cohort- stunned her into silence. She gritted her teeth. 

She had thought that her escape from her coven’s massacre so many years ago, and the steps she had taken to remain under the radar since, had spared her of the Volturi’s attention. She ventured not even to the social circles of vampires who mingled with the upper echelons of humanity, nor the ones who preferred the solitude of nature as she did- she had remained, for fear of attention, staunchly alone. 

The only possible answer could be Aro had at last run out of patience in his quest to add another Talented to his collection. 

A broken Talented. One who couldn’t even control her own power. 

A failure.

A stone sank in her stomach. 

A kinder fate would be for these hunters to kill her. 

She had no name for the raw emotion bubbling in her chest. It was cold, as grief was, with the prickling stab of anger and futility. Perhaps it was akin to rage. No descriptor felt adequate for the flood of it. It was a feeling that begged to crawl out of her skin and consume her. 

What was the point of all her running, if it had only led to this moment?

What was the point of her visions, if she couldn't use them to protect herself? 

Alice was pulled out of the agonizing twist of her thoughts by Charlie snapping his fingers in front of her eyes. She bit back the urge to snarl back at him. The animalistic action wouldn’t help her- not now, with her world crumbling around her, with these hunters baying for her blood. 

“Why would the Volturi want you?”

His question was measured and neutral. If she wasn’t mistaken, it bore genuine curiosity. 

Though she wondered it herself, Alice couldn’t help but be annoyed. 

“Haven’t you been listening?” she snapped, though her response lacked the bite she intended. “Aro’s sole desire is to collect. His collection isn’t complete unless he has all of the special talents the vampire world can offer.” Her mouth twisted. “He must think more of mine than he should.”

Her vision wavered, but filled only with a fuzzy gray through which she couldn’t see clearly. 

As Charlie’s countenance returned, she continued. 

“Humans were able to capture me. I still don’t know how you did it- I didn’t see your intentions until-”

A waft of a sour smell hit her nose. She twisted, studying the shut door. It was faint, but cloying, the smell seeping past the reinforced door and affronting her senses. 

Her brow furrowed. 

“...until your daughter's blood was poisoning me. I didn’t see that, either.” 

She exhaled slowly. Angela had finally lowered the shotgun and was picking through something on the opposite side of the room. Likewise, the other hunters were shifting their attention to other items, though she knew they were paying close attention to her words. Whoever had just arrived seemed to spark some change within them- preparation, it seemed, though she couldn't be sure.

“I’m not sure how you did it, but you did.” 

A frown crossed her face. Her predicament was simply... pathetic.

“I suppose that makes me useless to Aro- and to you.” 

Her struggle against her bindings resumed. 

The physical pain did little to touch the storm brewing in her chest.

“Don’t the Talented have teachers?” Charlie asked.

Alice offered an imperceptible shrug. “If they’re lucky. If their coven leader is smart and hides them away. Otherwise, they- they…” She scowled, yanking her fist. “Otherwise, they belong to Aro.” 

Beyond the clatter of tinkering weapons and tools in this room, and the constant buzz of the lights overhead, she heard a faint thump in the room beyond and a man’s laughter. The foul smell grew stronger. 

Her pain grew worse. 

Alice's body sagged.

Her voice became more monotone the more she spoke. She gazed at a point somewhere beyond Charlie’s head.

“Many of us- our abilities are unique. It's been said that there are no two talents that are alike- though, statistically, that can't be true. Still, there’s no rhyme or reason for them. I see bits of the future- obviously, never clearly. It’s never enough to save anyone. Aro has a pair of siblings in his guard- twins, I think. One inflicts terrible physical pain. Whatever agony you can envision, it is nothing compared to what she can do. The other robs you of your senses until all you can focus on is the agony. And still, there are others. Dozens, hundreds- perhaps thousands.” 

“What goal could he possibly have?” Charlie wondered, though the question was directed at the other hunters more than it was directed at Alice.

Still, she answered it.

“What does any megalomaniac desire?”

Vampires were not the only supernatural creature that roamed the earth. There were many others, though none held the degree of power that Aro seemed to hold. 

At least, to her knowledge.

She supposed Aro might be trying to protect himself by surrounding himself with an elite force of Talented; certainly they were stronger together against an external threat. 

His lack of opposition was proof enough of that.

She used her thumbnail to pick at a bit of gore sticking to the arm of the chair. The responding grating noise seemed to echo through her bones. 

Gone was her desire to twist the truth and lead these humans astray. There was no point. If they didn’t kill her here, she would end up in Aro’s court. 

She wasn’t sure which fate was worse.

The door to the room swung open, knocking into the stone wall. The sound didn’t startle Alice so much as the stench that accompanied it. She craned her head, eyes traveling over the pair in the doorway. A tall, scarred man with long dark hair stood just behind Bella, his hands curling into fists at his side. The scent that had been sticking to the air for the last several minutes was coming from him.

She stopped breathing, fear lancing through her. 

What was he? 

It took a moment to realize that of all the people in the room, his future was startlingly blank. 

His nose wrinkled, breaking his scowl. “Jesus Christ, she reeks.”

Bella scoffed a laugh. 

Alice’s gaze flew to the human hunter- and widened. 

While the newcomer was an enigma, the vision that unfolded from Bella was swift.

Bella's face warbled before appearing somewhere else- a gas station, Alice thought, eyes tracking over the petrol pumps and the squat building reeking of chemicals and processed foods. It was the same one that had tugged at her attention earlier. The human's face was pinched in annoyance as she struggled with the jammed pump, using her other hand to brace against the car. 

Finally, with the fuel flowing, the hunter shifted and put her back to the car as she looked out over the empty lot. Aside from a beaten up red car parked close to the building, there wasn't a sign of another soul.

From the woods at the edge of the lot came the sharp wail of an animal, which was abruptly cut off. Bella's brow furrowed as her body turned towards the sound, her hand going to the hip that holstered her weapon.

For the first time, Alice saw with clarity the face of the tracker that had been tailing her for weeks. She knew without a doubt that the scarred, stony face that loomed from the shadows belonged to him.

His approach was swift, coming to Bella from the opposite direction of the dying animal. Blond curls flecked with blood hung in his eyes. Bella's hair fluttered at his approach. She had scarcely begun to turn at the noise when his hands came up, the motion controlled and swift, and then her head twisted violently to the side with a wet crack. He released her, the impassive expression on his face cracking with a wicked curl of his lips and an unnerving gleam in his eyes. 

Blood ebbed from Bella's body where it lay crumbled beside the beeping pump, her fingers twitching at her side. A last, wheezing exhale fought its way free from her lungs before she was still.

The finality of what Alice witnessed all but knocked the wind from her lungs. She couldn’t help the smile that twisted her lips upward. It was cruel and vindictive. This end, however vicious, felt like vengeance for the agony she had endured.

The tracker rocked back, flicking the blood from his hands with a disgusted scowl.

His voice, with its distinct Southern drawl, surprised Alice. “A lady shouldn't be dealing in poison,” he said slowly before he stooped and went through her pockets for her keys. 

He was about to say something else when a crack against Alice's jaw jolted her back to the present and ripped the rest of the vision away. She reeled to the side, stretching her jaw against the deep ache that reverberated through her face. 

She wanted to throw up- or maybe pass out. Neither sounded appealing.

The weapon clattered from Charlie’s hands as he lunged forward, hands coming to rest on either armrest, his face looming just inches from hers. He had hit her with the blunt handle of his morning-star, but that did little to lessen the consuming pain in her jaw.

Just like her, he was cracking.

“What'd you see?” Charlie demanded, snapping his fingers in front of her face. The shock of her name tearing from his throat barely registered as she fought to retain control over the fury threatening to overtake her. “Alice, what did you see?” 

Still woozy from the blow and the jolt of her future-sight, she momentarily forgot her predicament and lunged forward, straining against her bindings as her teeth snapped in the space his hand had been. A snarl escaped her throat, and she thrashed, her ears focusing on the thump of his heart and the promise of the blood that pumped through his veins. 

Poisoned- clean- wrong - it didn’t matter. 

Not when she was so empty.

Not when she was starving.

“Dose her,” Angela snapped. "Eric, do it now!"

Alice was screaming something unintelligible even to her own ears when the needle plunged into her neck, and for the second time in as many days, her world went dark.

Chapter Text

Thick smoke clogged Alice’s throat as she tore through the woods of her village, fire searing at the bare skin of her heels. A peel of laughter broke out in the air behind her, high like the melody of a song. She whipped around as a scream pierced the air- Emelie- Father-

Alice choked on the air in her lungs as she ripped out of the memory- no, the dream, writhing against the fire that still licked a scathing path through her veins. She vaguely remembered the needle that had been stabbed into the soft flesh of her neck, and the liquid heat that had pulled her under. The pain of whatever they had injected her body with lingered. Her eyes dragged up and over the hunters- and the stranger- who were still in the room. 

She gasped, fighting the urge to wretch as cold prickled across her body. Dark splotches blotted out her vision, and for a moment, she was afraid she would pass out. 

Then the feeling ebbed, her vision clearing.

As the panic died down, she reeled over it. When they had first dosed her with the fire that was beginning to dull, she had not dreamed. Why now? 

In the centuries since Alice had awoken as a vampire, she had never dreamed in the way she learned humans did. She wasn’t sure why. Though vampires didn’t need to sleep for survival, they could- and others of her kind were able to dream. She remembered from the titterings of other members of her coven that dreams were not alien to vampires- just to her. She thought it must have something to do with her thorough lack of memories from when she was human. Perhaps it was because she had only ever known life as a vampire. Regardless, Alice had never concerned herself with it- with her visions as frequent as they were, she hadn’t seen a need to dream. 

As her body relaxed, the pain dulling to a manageable throb, she took stock of the room before her. Whether she was getting used to whatever poison they were using to keep her under control, or because the pain was no longer new and therefore didn’t shock her, she didn’t know. 

The number of hunters had dwindled. The four nameless ones had vanished, perhaps to another part of the house. That was good, she thought. It meant they had taken their futures with them. Angela was still seated at the weapons’ table, stripping a gun. Every now and then, her eyes flicked from her task to Alice's weakened form in an annoyed glare. Charlie was once again seated upon his perch before her, albeit at a greater distance, watching her warily. 

He had traded his morningstar for a gun.

It was Bella who was standing next to the stranger, her hands tucked into her back pockets as she studied Alice’s pathetic form. The scowl had not left her face, though her brow was now furrowed in something akin to confusion. The stranger’s face was twisted much like Alice’s; however terrible he smelled to her, she supposed her scent must be similarly offensive. 

She studied his stance, trying to determine what exactly he was. Aside from his scent, and the heat emanating from his body that was markedly higher than that of any of the hunters, she had little idea of what he could be. She quietly reviewed the other supernatural beings she knew of. Witches, sirens, shapeshifters… the list went on. But what could he possibly be? With just a smell to go off of, she knew of no way to place him.

Her head twitched, and her fingers spasmed. She stretched her hand, mindful of the tight bindings at her wrist. 

Unlike the others in the room, whose futures warred with themselves and lended to the cacophony of her mind’s eye, this stranger was a mystery. No visions clung to him; Alice could see nothing of what he would do tomorrow, where he would clock in for his work, what bizarre hobbies he had that he would spend his time in once he returned home. She didn’t see the mundane glimpses of his next few meals, nor the grave possibility of his death. 

It was unsettling. No explanation came to mind for its reason. Had he had something to do with her lack of foresight in the city? She frowned in thought. 

Perhaps that’s what he was- but she knew of no supernatural creature with an ability to block the talents of vampires. Besides- Bella's death kept flickering before her eyes, and the werewolf was standing nearly arm to arm with her. The absence belonged to him alone.

She was pondering what else he could be when he spoke. His voice was baritone, and carried through the room. He spoke with authority, though she wasn’t entirely sure he carried any among this crowd. 

“So, this is the leech?” 

She couldn’t help but bare her teeth at him. “That was rude,” she spat. 

He had the audacity to laugh. 

“My bad. Would mosquito have been better?” 

The curl of her lip morphed into a snarl.

“C’mon, Paul,” Bella said, tapping a hand to his chest. “Don’t goad it.” 

His eyes flashed as he stared back at Alice, and as the gleam of gold registered alongside the pervading scent in the air, she realized what he was. Her mouth almost dropped open at the revelation: a werewolf. 

She had thought they were extinct.

“You’re right,” he agreed, rocking back on his heels. “Not worth it.”

If Alice had more energy, she might have rolled her eyes. They could try and dehumanize her if it helped them feel better. It didn’t change the torture they had put her through- arguably worse than anything she had ever done to a human.

“Cool it, you two,” Charlie warned. He cast them both an annoyed look before turning back to Alice. “You calmer now? Ready to talk?”

“I did my talking,” she hedged. “Why don’t you trade me for something? I might f…” Her voice cut off, her throat squeezing. “ Feel more inclined to talk more.”

“You tried to bite me. I’m gonna need more than that as a gesture of goodwill before we talk any sort of trade,” Charlie said, dragging a hand down his face. 

“Do you ever get exhausted?” Alice wondered. 

His brow furrowed. 

“All that self-righteousness. I’m being tortured and you’re asking me to be on my best behavior. I think that’s rich.” 

“Only one of us is able to kill people with our bare hands,” he pointed out.

“Now, now,” she reprimanded. “Don’t piss off the werewolf.” 

It was the werewolf’s turn to scowl. His eyes narrowed, tension falling across his shoulders.

“There’s a difference between you and Paul,” Charlie said. 

Alice quirked an eyebrow. “Enlighten me."

“Paul’s a hunter himself, and he’s never tried to kill me.” 

Alice nodded, taking a moment to study their shoes. “Shouldn’t we let bygones be bygones? You all have tried to kill me. Three times, by my count. I’m overdue one.” 

The glimmer of the same gas station tugged at her focus, and she blinked hard to ignore it. A repeat of trying to rip the patriarch’s face off was exactly what she was trying to avoid. 

Charlie caught her distraction. “Well? What’d you see?”

She let a sweet smile fall across her face, though she knew it was made ugly by the mess staining her clothes and body. “A nice, warm, thick pool of blood, with your head in the middle.” 

Paul snorted. “Liar.” 

She cast him a resentful glance, her smile vanishing. “I don’t think I like you.”

“Feeling’s mutual.” 

“Alice, look,” Charlie said, scooting his chair closer. “If you give us something we can work with, I’ll consider cutting you a deal to let you go.” 

A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

Her eyes narrowed. “That’d be easier to do if I knew what you wanted help with. I’ve already given you what I know about the Volturi.” 

“We need something more.” 

She cast him an unimpressed look. “Something more? Seriously? That’s incredibly helpful-” Alice jolted forward, her body wracked with a rasping cough. 

Angela stood, abandoning her tools. “We’re not getting any more out of her tonight. I think this is a waste of time.” 

Bella shrugged a shoulder. “Charlie knows best.” 

From the quiet bite in her tone, the quick glances from Paul and Angela, and the muscle that jumped in Charlie’s jaw, Alice decided she would much rather have them all stay in here. They were at least entertaining when they weren’t actively hurting her. 

A flash of Charlie saying, “Bells, I’m getting sick of your shit,” flitted across her sight before vanishing. She would have laughed if she had more energy. 

Instead, he said, his voice carefully even, “Think that’s a good idea, Ange. Go ahead and get some rest.” After a beat, he said, “You too, Paul.” 

Though Angela filtered out, Paul remained rooted in place. His eyes ticked to Bella, his brows raising slightly; a movement that might have gone missed by another human. Alice caught it as easily if she had made the inquisitive expression herself. 

Bella dipped her chin down once. 

He cast another warning look at Alice before turning on his heel and heading for the door. 

Paul had nearly reached the threshold when Alice shifted in her seat. 

“Bella,” she said suddenly, knowing it would cause the werewolf to linger. It was against her better judgement, and perhaps she would regret not taking this opportunity to drive a stake of her own into the hunters’ hearts. Alice held the key in her sight, and if she chose to do nothing, it would be as good as snapping the hunter’s neck herself. The woman turned back, a scowl already fixed in place as her eyes connected with Alice’s. “Don’t stop at the gas station.”

The anger and annoyance on Bella’s face was momentarily overtaken by confusion. She paused at the threshold of the door, her attention fully on Alice.

Paul had returned as well, his eyes narrowing. 

“You’ll go to the city for supplies. On the way back, you’ll stop at a station. That will be where he finds you.” Her mouth twisted into a wry smile. “He followed the poison lingering in your blood. I can only assume he found traces of it at the park.” 

Her body sagged from the effort of speaking, and she sucked in a deep breath. The air was beginning to burn as it filled her lungs. Her next words were laborious.

“If it’s any consolation, it can't be helped.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, though it hurt her throat. “He’s very good at what he does.”

She needed blood, or she would lose the last grip she held over her sanity. The muscles in her body felt like they were screaming, begging for an end to the agony stripping them of their strength.

Charlie rose from his seat, his face unreadable.

It was Paul who spoke. 

“I know you aren’t believing this leech, Isa,” he snapped. “Someone backed into a corner will say whatever they have to. She hasn’t “seen” shit.” His fingers formed quotes around the mocking word, his angry gaze shooting to Alice’s.

Alice’s head tilted, picking up the emotional traces beneath his heavy stench. They were faint, but there; how curious. She couldn’t determine exactly what their relationship was, but this was another clue in the puzzle that was the hunters.

“How did you know we’re going back to the city?” Bella asked, her eyes sliding past Paul. The man groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands in exasperation.

“You’re smarter than that, Bella,” Alice crooned. “It’s not a secret that I can see the future. Is it so impossible that I’ve seen yours?”

“What does she gain from telling us this?” Charlie asked, holding up a hand. 

"She's just fucking with us, that's what they do," Paul said in exasperation.

“It doesn’t matter to me if you listen,” Alice muttered. “You’ll die a piteous death, and it won’t matter much to me.” Her fingers flexed. “I tried to save you.” 

Bella’s eyes narrowed. She stepped back into the room, withdrawing a knife inscribed with an old language Alice might have recognized, and braced a hand against one armrest while holding the sharp edge of the blade to Alice’s neck. Its metal almost sounded like a whisper as it waited to bite into her skin.

“How?” 

The hunter’s voice was clinical. Alice could respect that. What choice did one have when confronting their demise? What use were hysterics? 

“It doesn’t matter how,” she returned with a broadening smile. As she spoke, she kept a keen focus on Bella’s heart. “I could tell you anything. He’ll rip out your heart through your throat.” 

It wasn’t Bella’s heart that leaped- it was Paul’s. 

Curious, indeed. 

“He’ll flay the skin from your body strip by agonizing strip.”

A muscle in Charlie’s jaw jumped. 

“Or maybe he’ll snap your neck and let you die in a paralyzed heap in the middle of nowhere.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “If you go on that mission, you will be the one with the coffin. Go ahead- try to play with your fate.” 

She yelped as Bella dragged the blade an inch across her neck. Alice’s skin bubbled in its wake, and she strained backward as the fresh agony temporarily blinded her.

The hunter straightened, lifting her arm to wipe the blade off on the mended sleeve of her stained winter coat. 

To her surprise, Bella remained calm. “You think a bit too highly of whoever this tracker is. We’ll see who comes out on top.”

Charlie’s voice was sharp. “Bells-”

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Charlie,” she said. “He’s been on her trail for what, months? And he couldn’t capture her? I’m not afraid of him. Let him come.” 

With that, she turned on her heel and strode from the room, her head held high.

Paul exchanged a glance with Charlie, their expressions hard, before they followed her out the doorway. 

Alice tapped a finger against the arm, somewhat annoyed at having been forgotten. 

“I hope he drains you,” she muttered, not sure if she was angrier right now at the tracker or the hunter.

From behind the curtain, dusk had begun to fall, and she felt a momentary burst of relief that the remaining hunters wouldn’t be able to use the sun against her, even if the reprieve would only be for a few hours. 

Alice settled back, finding the position that was least excruciating on her body and resolving to stay there until Charlie came back.

When he didn’t, she found herself counting the ceiling tiles. When she determined there were exactly thirty-three, she moved to the cobwebs, after which she studied the bins lining the numerous shelves.

By the time she had finished with that, she was dangerously close to seething, and from the lack of noise beyond the room, was frustratingly unsure of how much time, if any, had passed. 

Minutes or hours ticked by in the same way, inventing new ways of keeping her mind alert instead of sinking into the beginning throes of dessication. 

Eventually, she ruminated over the image of the tracker, with his bloody curls, distinct drawl, and the scars that criss-crossed over his skin. Her gaze became distant, searching haphazardly through the near future for any sign of him. It was sloppy, and all she found were different iterations of the same pivotal event of the tracker snapping Bella's neck.

He never strayed very far from his course. The comment he made to Bella’s corpse was constant- as was the relaxed accent, which she found particularly curious. Now that she knew he was a member of the Volturi, a new question rose in her mind: what was a vampire from the southern part of the United States doing in Europe? 

She supposed it didn’t matter, not in the end. She knew as well as any other vampire did that if the Volturi set their sights upon someone, it was only a matter of time. 

Death, or service. 

It was hours later, after Bella had long departed, that the future once again warbled. Alice had been studying the pattern of the tiles on the ceiling, counting the nicks in the surface, when the gas station once again took over her sight. 

Rather than Bella’s countenance struggling at the pump, it was an unfamiliar woman with shorn hair and a pinched scowl. Small pearl earrings hung at her ears, and her eyes were lined with blue wings. She was wearing a glittering party dress, and atop that… Bella’s coat. Alice didn’t recognize her from the park or the house. Rather than Bella, it was she who was surprised by the blond tracker. It was her blood that painted the concrete of the station and stained his hands. And it was his comment about poison that was noticeably absent.

As Alice’s vision bled back into the present, she couldn’t help but grin. “You sent someone in your place?” she whispered to herself. “Bella, Bella, Bella. ”

Bella was more ruthless than Alice had given her credit for. 

She almost couldn’t wait for the human to return.

It was nearly dawn when the door swung open, knocking once against the wall as Bella paced inside, her eyebrows pinched in thought. Her gaze fell upon Alice, who was laying still in her chair. The vampire’s limbs were stiff and too difficult to move. Even with her stillness, pain continued to set her body alight. She had begun to think that death would be a mercy when the hunter she had just saved came in.

It swung shut behind them, leaving Alice alone in the room with this aggressive hunter. Well- aggressive Bella may have been, but stupid she was not. She was staring at Alice in a way that suggested she hadn’t truly considered her worth.

Despite the dessication that was beginning to slow her limbs, Alice couldn’t help but feel like meat at the market, evaluated for dinner. It was an odd feeling; usually, it was the other way around.

“Clever trick,” she rasped, her voice clawing at her throat as it broke the silence. “The coat was a nice touch.”

Bella’s gaze hardened. 

Alice knew what the human was thinking. She had just confirmed her usefulness to the hunters. A faint promise of blood began to overtake the visions humming at the edges of her vision, and she forced her gaze to focus on the woman standing before her. 

Alice grinned, the cracked skin of her lips splitting. “How did it feel? Sending someone to die?” 

Her ears strained, but she couldn’t hear anyone in the other room. She wasn’t sure where they were- perhaps in a further part of the house, perhaps on the gravel drive. Retrieving the body? Wherever they were, that werewolf must be with them, ensuring she couldn’t see a second of their future- no, she corrected herself. She shouldn't assume that until she knew exactly why he didn't appear in her visions.

What she did know was that as the minutes ticked by, the glimpses of the future that she saw became tethered to this room. 

“You knew,” Bella accused, her eyes narrowing. Her arms folded across her stomach, and she tapped a finger against her arm as she considered Alice.

“We est… established that,” Alice croaked. “Usually, when someone saves your life, you tell them thank you.” Her voice cracked. “ Thank you, Alice, for saving me f… from a brutal death at the hands of the Volturi. ” 

“You said you saw me dying. Jessica wasn’t even at the park.” Bella’s voice had lowered; evidently, she didn’t want any of the others, including Paul, to hear. 

Alice half-shrugged, though the motion wasn’t clear. “Trade me a little blood, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know about my v… vis- visions. Just a few drops.” 

Bella hummed, her head turning. “I’ll play your game.” 

She turned back towards the door, disappearing into the room beyond. 

Surprise bloomed through Alice’s chest at the lack of protest Bella put forth. She scarcely had time to wonder. The lights flickered in time with the faint sounds of a door slamming. When the hunter returned, she held aloft a chilled, bagged pint of blood labeled O+. 

If Alice hadn’t been desperate for blood, she might have laughed at the irony of what she had told Charlie only days prior. 

Bella approached her, her steps cautious but not afraid, and with her free hand, held her knife aloft. Her brows rose, once.

“Try anything, and I’ll drive this into your eye,” she threatened, her voice low.

“Best behavior,” Alice agreed, straightening despite the burn across her spine.

Bella stretched out her hand, careful to keep her fingertips out of the way as she held the bag in front of Alice’s lips.

It was awkward… but so was desperation.

She drank greedily from the bag, ignoring the bitter taste of plastic and glue and focusing instead on the chilling, blissful drain of the blood down her throat. A groan escaped her as relief finally hit her body. Trickles of blood ran down her chin and added to the abysmal stains of her clothing, but she didn’t care; not when the pain in her muscles was easing, not when the bone-deep ache was fading, not when the conflicting swell of visions was finally softening. This blood was clean, even if it was days old, and was a taste of heaven after the weeks she had spent without a drop of nourishment. 

Too soon, Bella ripped the bag away. She rocked back on a heel, holding the half-full bag aloft, the puncture holes of Alice’s teeth teetering dangerously towards the floor. Her nose wrinkled at the smell, though Alice thought she had never come across something sweeter. Alice’s eyes glued to the movement. If she didn’t cooperate, Bella would pour the blood over the concrete.

With renewed energy coursing through her body, Alice straightened and lifted her chin. “Dare I ask where… who… you retrieved that from?”

The corner of Bella’s mouth twitched. “Gentleman off Route 90. Works in finance, golfs on the weekend. Really healthy.”

Alice laughed. Funny.

“So. You have questions.” 

Bella dragged her father’s chair over, settling down in it much like he had. The corner of Alice’s mouth ticked upwards in amusement. If Bella knew how similar they were, she didn’t seem to show it. All the while, the hunter kept the bag aloft, her threat- more a promise - clear. 

“You saw my death, but here I am,” Bella said. “Seems like your visions aren’t as great as they’re made out to be.” 

“The future isn’t necessarily set in stone,” Alice replied. “I see possibilities.” She tapped a nail against the arm of the chair, still reveling in the heady relief seeping through her limbs. “If a choice changes, the future can, too. Some events are fixed points. They were always going to happen, one way or another. One of you was always going to go to that station. The hunter was always going to find someone there. And he was always going to snap their neck.” 

“You see that much?” Bella said doubtfully. 

Alice’s gaze ticked over the stiff way Bella held her body. “I may not know you, Bella, but once I told you what waited at the gas station, there was no stopping you. Changing the choice doesn’t always change the future; at least, not all of it.” 

With her body functioning again, she could hear much better; the sound of footsteps crunching up the gravel path and the soft murmuring of voices filtered through the walls. Overhead, the light continued its irregular flicker- the only difference was now she could sort the other noise from the property and piece it together. 

“Was she your first?” Alice couldn’t help but ask, her attention returning to Bella. 

The hunter’s eyebrows furrowed. “My first what?”

“First… kill. Sacrifice. Whatever you’d like to call it. Whatever it was. Was she… your first?”

From the muscle that jumped in Bella’s jaw, Alice found her answer.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bella snapped.

Alice smiled. Bella knew just as well as she did what had been done. For hours, it was Bella’s neck she had seen snapped by the tracker’s hands. Once she had told the hunter, another neck had taken her place. Though it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened, Alice remained curious as to how. 

“Hmm. Don’t worry,” she said, running the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip and tracing the remnant of blood. “Your secret’s safe with me.” 

“It’s not a secret.”

“Am I wrong in thinking your father doesn’t know? Or your…” She paused, still unsure what to describe Paul as. “Werewolf?”

Bella’s expression pinched. “Paul isn’t mine. He’s a friend.”

“Well, like I said. Secret’s safe with me.” 

“Can you always change what you see?” Bella asked, ignoring Alice’s comment.

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. I was running from that tracker because no matter what path I took, he always returned to it. The only thing that disrupted it was your hunting group… who really knows. It’s an imprecise science at best.” A curse, at worst.

“No one to train the Talented, I take it.”

“Hmm. So you do pay attention.” Alice relaxed against her seat and tilted her head back to watch the pattern of the light. With her senses returned to their normal, heightened levels, she could now pick up sounds of the rest of the hunters outside. Paul’s voice, though she couldn’t quite make out the words, was the most easily discernible, followed by Charlie’s; they seemed to be deep in discussion. Car doors were slamming. And every time a light switch flipped, the storage doors swung open, or the armed safes were checked… the lights overhead dimmed. “There used to be teachers, I think. Back when I was newly turned. Vampires weren’t so… solitary, then. It wasn’t necessary. We weren’t afraid of… him. Aro.” 

“You didn’t learn then?”

Alice’s lips pursed. “I started to,” she admitted. 

“And?”

Alice’s expression became blank, her eyes focusing on a distant point. Another glimmer of those cursed blond curls passing under moonlight flashed through her sight before Bella’s stony countenance returned. “That’s the funny thing about a vampire’s lifespan. We always think we have centuries more than we do. Why bother mastering a talent that I have an eternity to learn?”

She scoffed, still thinking of the years she had squandered under her coven’s protection. They had been brief, but enough that she should have had a far better grasp on her talent than she did. Instead, she was stuck with visions that held more control over her than they should; visions that overtook the present, blended with reality, and flickered at the edges of her mind’s eye. They came and went with no rhyme or reason, and the most she had ever figured out was picking out the patterns, such as the choices she made that directly altered the paths forward that she could glimpse. 

“If I could do things differently, I suppose you wouldn’t have captured me in the first place.” Alice hummed. “I have been wondering how you hid so thoroughly that night in the city. I saw only your path to the duck in the pond. I passed so many of you in the street.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “You were probably too thirsty to make sense of it, and we never intended to kill you, anyway.” 

“Sorry, Bella, but I don’t buy that,” she said. She tilted her head back, eyes tracking over the tops of the shelves of supplies and the bins filled with bits and baubles she wasn’t sure the names of. “I’ve gone over it again and again in my head… and it just doesn’t add up.” 

A beleaguered sigh left Bella, and she shifted in her seat to stick her knife back in its holster at her thigh and dig into her flannel pocket. The crinkling brush of a plastic wrapper alerted Alice to the bar she pulled from her pocket long before the sour sweet smell that attached itself to the human-produced candy bars met the air. 

Bella took a bite, a string of caramel pulling from the chocolate as she considered Alice’s dilemma. In her other hand, she continued to balance the blood bag, tipping it carelessly this way and that. The sight annoyed Alice, still hungry as she was. 

“Well, all things considered,” Bella said between thoughtful chews. The sight disgusted Alice; human food had never been a curiosity for her.  “We’ve known about vampire abilities for about three months, and the scope of your talent for forty-eight hours.” She swallowed, and twisted the bar in her fingers, eyes scanning over the nutrition label. “We’d heard about your talent before we tried to capture you.”

“Three times, from what I heard,” Alice said softly. “I didn’t see either of the other two.” 

Bella shrugged. “I’ve never been into tarot or playing with fortune-tellers. I figured your talent was just some cracked up hoax.” Her mouth twisted. “Then Maureen died on the coastline.” 

Alice’s brow furrowed. She stayed quiet, trying to piece together the new information. 

“I thought, must just be a coincidence. You got lucky. Saw us coming. Not impossible, right?” 

Bella took another bite.

Alice hadn’t killed Maureen- she didn’t even know who that girl was. The last time she had drunk her fill had been in Europe, somewhere between France and Belgium. Once the tracker had caught wind of her, her life had become running without stopping to think about dinner and dessert.

She kept this to herself, though, preferring to see what this hunter would puzzle out on her own.

“Then the second attempt led to Peter losing an arm. He's still in the ICU.” She chuckled bitterly, though there was no humor in the sound. “That was when we figured out you had a tail- a team, to be precise.” She glanced down. “Stupid fucking tip didn’t tell us in time.”

“I keep hearing about these tips,” Alice mumbled, half to herself. “I wish I had something like that. I only knew about the one.” 

“See? That’s exactly what I mean. You evaded us twice but couldn’t lose another vampire? Not much of a talent.”

Alice sniffed. 

“The way I have it figured,” Bella continued, “your visions don’t show you anything helpful. You're either too stupid to figure your power out, or you just can't.”

“Then why keep me here?” Alice burst out. “What do you have to gain from a psychic who can’t see clearly?” 

She lurched forward, yanking at her chains. With the renewed strength flowing through her, they budged imperceptibly. Bella’s eyes remained fixed upon Alice’s. 

“Be honest. You went after me because you thought I could help you against the Volturi. The blood that’s dried across the floor belongs to another like me- I’ve no idea who, but someone who outlived their usefulness to you just like I’ve done. So why am I still alive?”

A vein popped in Bella’s forehead. 

Alice had saved her- perhaps that was why. It had to be. Whatever they hoped she could help them with the Volturi, certainly she had proved her worth by helping this ungrateful hunter.

The front door to the house slammed. Paul’s voice rose up from that direction, calling Bella’s name.

She stood, crossing the distance and standing almost toe to toe with Alice.

“I don’t know what it is, but you’re still hiding something,” Bella said. Her voice was flat- too monotonous. 

“You’re lying,” Alice accused, yanking again. The chains cut into the back of her hand and she hissed at the fresh lash of pain that burst across her skin. “I’ve given you the truth-”

“Maybe,” Bella said, smiling for the first time all evening. 

Confusion stilled Alice before her eyes widened in horror. The hunter tipped to bag forward, letting the rest of the warming contents of the blood bag spill directly over Alice’s lap- so close, yet so out of reach. She let the crumpled plastic fall to the vampire's feet.

Alice thrashed in her bindings, her lip furling. 

“You… bitch, ” Alice hissed. “Let me out! You fucking bitch! Get back here!” 

She stilled, seething, as the door swung shut behind the hunter’s exit. 

When she got out- and no matter what her visions said, it would be a when- she would kill Bella first. 

Chapter Text

When the haze of Alice’s rage had subsided, and as her body began to knit itself back together in the wake of the sustenance provided by that damned blood bag, her eyes fell upon a lone, human guard. 

The bleed of sunlight from around the thick curtains that hid the window directly across from her told her it was mid-morning. As the present settled before her, the chaotic glimpses of the future eased. They had returned to the old, subtle patterns she was accustomed to. The small shred of normalcy calmed her, and sharpened her senses as she began analyzing the lone guard seated on the other end of the room.

Eric.

Alice knew his name only because the other hunter, Angela, had called for him before the sharp pierce of a needle had met her neck and more of that wretched poison had spread through her limbs. The memory of his scowling face looming over her felt at odds with the curiously blank expression he now wore as he sat in the vacated plastic chair, his gaze trained on the pieces of a stripped gun that lay before him. 

She shifted back, careful not to rattle her chains or even breathe too loudly- though if he was worth his salt as a hunter, he would already know that she was awake. 

Glancing down at her immobilized hands, she experimentally wiggled her fingers. The lingering ache from the poison had dulled, and though her head still pounded, she felt surprisingly… fine. Her mouth was no longer dry. Though her lips were still chapped, their sting was less, too.

A smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

Feeding had been meant as a show of power, to hold over Alice’s head that the hunters kept her alive at their whim. It was meant to show they were the difference between sustenance and starvation. She suspected the intention was to keep her pliant and willing to give up any information even if it just meant a half-empty blood bag. 

And yet, it would prove to be Bella’s mistake- assuming Alice could convince the guard to let her walk away tonight.

Alice’s eyes flicked up to Eric, who was methodically reassembling his gun, and caught a flash of him- days from now, weeks, she wasn’t sure- with a dark red scarf around his throat as he held out a canned latte to a woman with pale curls and a dimpled smile. 

Her attention turned away, scanning the room for any sign of change. Nothing seemed out of place. The shelves were still laden with useless supplies, crates still held weapons, and there were bins with what she thought could be clothes. None of it was remotely helpful to her.

A waft of stale copper hit her nose, and her gaze fell to her lap, where the drying stains and flakes of the emptied blood bag laid. 

When Alice had first awoken in this cell of a shed a day ago- two days? Three? She hardly knew anymore- her mind had felt shredded at its very seams with her fractured visions and the thirst in her throat burning an accompaniment against her consciousness. It demanded a cure she had no hope of getting. With the haze that had blurred her control, she had only been driven by thoughts of blood and the survival it meant. A week could have ticked by and she would have been none the wiser. 

Now that the very thing she had starved for coated the back of her throat like a salve, the calm that had settled over her mind was grounding. It felt like coming up for air after weeks of suffocating. 

It was clarity , but it wasn’t complete. Strength had not fully returned to her limbs, and her senses were not as attuned as she would have liked. 

Her eyes travelled over the chains cutting into her skin. Now that she had stopped writhing and had focus from the fresh blood in her system, the wounds were beginning to heal. Perhaps with a little more, she would be able to break through them, blessed- cursed - or not.

This fresh surge of control granted Alice a distinct advantage.

It was a promise of hope.

The glower she had affixed to the mess in her lap lifted into a smile.

She ran her tongue over the back of her teeth, considering how she might drink her fill. Eric’s blood thrummed with a steady pulse, his heartbeat strong, but she knew whatever poison was in Bella’s blood was likely crawling through his. She shifted back, reconsidering. 

What had it been?  

The blood had burned despite all attempts to expel it, but Alice remembered a distinctly bitter flavor that had mixed with her venom and choked her. If there had been a sign that Bella’s blood carried it, Alice had, in her hunger, ignored it. She tilted her head, wondering. 

It was something she wished she had stopped to learn from her coven. The poisoned blood bore the suggestion of medical research- or witchcraft, perhaps. Hunters weren’t exactly known for being righteous. Alice knew regrettably little about anything.

Now that she knew the poison was there, though, and remembered the sickening effect it had upon her body, she smelled its reek everywhere. 

Alice would have to be patient. With nourishment now in her system, she could afford to be. After all, was she not a survivor? 

As agonizingly boring as it was to watch the human's hands repeat the same, practiced motions, she could be patient. She could bide her time, wait until-

His head shot up, his chair clattering beneath him as he charged towards her, the insults pouring from her lips to bait him closer.

Her head tilted, eyes flickering as she processed the brief flashes of his future that flitted across her vision.

He loaded the gun and leveled it at her nose-

Her throat tightened as the brilliant muzzle flash encompassed the room in her vision. A blink washed it away. 

Eric’s dark eyes bored into hers, his jaw slackening as his fingers fumbled for the keys at his belt-

No matter what version of him finally looked at her, she could- would make him snap. All that remained was getting him to do it.

She shifted again, the chains clattering softly against the arms of the chair with her movement. She wondered- would she be able to get him close enough to try and sway him? A blurring of who- no, what she was, a subtle suggestion against this cell, and she trusted he would help her get out of her binds… but that was if her compulsion worked that way. Alice had only ever tried it when she was freshly fed, and never on anyone whose blood she hadn’t tasted. 

It was a risk she was willing to take. 

Now that she was level-headed, Alice decided that her life was more important than holding true to her promise. If she had broken free while in her half-crazed state, she may have torn through a couple of the hunters- but at the cost of her life.

It would be difficult enough to put enough distance between these hunters and herself.

Perhaps… if she could, she would kill Bella first. It wouldn't be drawn out, like her baser instincts demanded, but she would make the woman with poisoned blood die quickly, and then she would kill Charlie. 

Just those two. If it was convenient.

But … a wicked voice whispered that if she was able to take more of the hunters out alongside them, she would. Masterminds, leaders, torturers, lackeys- she didn't care. 

Alice hadn't done a thing to them. She hadn't killed a human in decades- as far as vampires went, Alice liked to think she was extremely conscientious. The only reason she had bitten Bella in the first place was desperation- and she hadn't even intended to kill her until the poison had stilled her limbs and lit her nervous system on fire. She had needed to feed, and she had thought Bella needed an emotional reprieve. 

Symbiosis, surely.

Eric mumbled as he gathered up the parts of the gun, dumping them on the table with a loud clatter before reclining back and running his hand through his hair.

Her eyes narrowed, thoughts of escape pausing. Was he pretending not to know she was alert? 

Eventually, he would look around. He would have to leave. He would move- all of her visions suggested it. 

She just needed to get him to look her way, and he would be hers.

She had taken to thinking of this supply room like a prison, or perhaps a cemetery; afterall, they intended for her to live out the rest of her days here. Was this not the grave in which she would be buried?

Alice supposed that made Eric her gravekeeper.

And here he was, about to escort her from her fate among the dead while being none the wiser.

He looked up, locking eyes-

The vision ebbed before it could whisper a path to victory.

Fine. The taste in her mouth soured. She shouldn’t expect control of her power now.

As Alice settled back to wait for her moment, keeping her breathing soft and measured, she remembered the anger that had lit her body, and the violent way she had lashed out at the hunters.

Not one of her finer moments, to be certain. Under ordinary circumstances, she might have felt shame over her display of violence. Alice had always prided herself on her general disdain towards gory violence and vague respect of human life. Violence for violence’s sake had never been to her taste. 

She wasn't feeling that way now. Alice still fully intended to leave alive by any means necessary. Being in a den of hunters had a way of changing her opinions- and she certainly prided her own life above a human's, however fascinating they might be.

Eric shifted forward, rising from his seat to stretch his arms over his head and tilt from side to side before sinking back down and resuming his task.

Alice suppressed an annoyed groan. 

Just how many times could one truly field-strip a weapon? He must've been on his sixteenth cycle, his motions mechanical… and his eyes trained anywhere but on her.

If only he would look at her.

That was the problem with compulsions.

Vampires needed to look into a person's eyes to sway them.

Maybe she could persuade him to relinquish this cruel career. As she watched his hands repeat robotic motions, she found she wasn't sure what he would do instead. A weaponsmaster, perhaps- if humans still had those. Despite his skill with weapons, he was scrawnier than he was wiry- which left out bodyguard. 

As he shifted, reaching for a bottle of water, a flash of a silver necklace dangling around his throat caught her eye.  

At the necklace’s end, an unrecognizable symbol dangled- she had not seen it before, though it looked as though it might belong to the same script that Bella's knife did. Her eyes narrowed, studying the modest metal lines as she scoured her memory for any clues to its meaning. 

Alice watched as he unscrewed the lid of the bottle, a pang of hunger twisting her stomach as he drank. 

She focused again on the necklace.

She tapped a scabbing nail against her armrest, the metallic rhythm in time with the staccato ache in her fingers. Still coming up blank for a translation for this symbol, she thought dimly that, really, none of his skills as a hunter felt transferable to any civilian professions-

He brought the morning-star, glistening red, down across her cheek-

She flinched at that vision, feeling a ghost of the impact shatter across her face. Pain reverberated through her cheek as if its bone had truly splintered. The movement shifted her chair, rattling her chains, their sound startling in the otherwise silent room.

Eric’s hands faltered, and still, he did not look her way. 

She tapped one foot upon the floor, wriggling her toes against the stretchy confines of her stolen running shoes as she considered his hesitation, then turned her attention to the window.

Alice studied the curtains keeping the cursed daylight away from her- and only just. If someone yanked the cord again, she would be right in the path of the blistering sun. The light continued to bleed around the edges of the curtain. It wasn’t enough to hurt her… but it was a stark reminder that a piece of cloth was all that stood between her and the acute pain of the sun.

Hmm. Bella must have suspected the blood would return some of Alice's faculties. Why else would the hunters have been so willing to look her in the eye earlier? 

The question that nagged at her above all others was why this lone guard was here with her. She flexed her hands before pulling her arms up, relaxing as the sting of the metal bit into her skin. Even with renewed strength, she wouldn’t be able to get free on her own.

It would be just as simple to leave her alone and let her rot. 

So why..?

“They warned you, I see,” she murmured, her voice carrying in the empty room. “You haven't looked at me once.”

Needling curiosity drove her now. As the ever-changing future warbled before her, she still saw example after example of Eric indulging his own curiosity and meeting her eyes. 

More than an answer to his presence, she wanted a way out.

Alice squashed the sliver of doubt that crept in, suggesting her visions were wrong.

They had no reason to be.

Eric offered her a shrug. “They didn't need to. Everyone knows about vampires.”

Alice hummed noncommittally. 

Her eyes returned to the ceiling, beginning to count the flecks of grime. She supposed it wouldn’t have been a secret, not for hunters who made it their business to kill anything that wasn’t human. 

Eight, nine, ten…

“You're wondering, though.”

The set of his shoulders stiffened.

Satisfaction swept a cool path through her body.

I've got you.

“You're wondering if the poison in your blood would protect you. Isabella didn't get the chance to find out, but you-” 

“You're wrong.”

“No?” she asked, her voice lilting up in mock surprise. “Then you're wondering if you're strong enough to resist it.” Her eyes snapped to the tremor in his hands. “Curious. Big, bad hunter, scared of a vampire.”

Eric's back straightened, and he stared towards the door. “You think you're a shrink?”

Her nail tapped again. The throb reverberating through her hand lessened as her body continued stitching itself back together, though she knew it was slowing. “No.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught him moving to stand before thinking better of it. He settled back in his seat, knuckles paling where they curled around the handle of the gun. She blinked. She hadn’t noticed him put it back together.

It might almost be threatening if she had any certainty he would use it. Something told her that if they were going to kill her, they would have by now.

Slowly, curiously, she reached out- not physically, but towards the flashes of the future. The frustrating sensation of grasping at sand met her full-force.

She had never mastered control over them. In fact, to say she had ever learned any semblance of it would be exceedingly generous. When her coven had been alive, she hadn't needed to. After they were gone, her primary focus was survival. In the last several weeks, her attention had narrowed to the immediate now and the seconds following it.

But, she wondered… 

Her breathing slowed as she focused all of her attention on the human man before her. He had returned to his task, shifting his chair to put his back to her and hunching his shoulders inward. This was a clear sign he was committing to ignoring her, and the first crack in his armor she had found. 

There was a faint smell of antiseptic clinging to his skin. It hadn't invaded his pores, as it did in humans who spent the majority of time at hospitals, but it clung to his clothes, which were beginning to smell stale and musty. No running water… frequent re-supply trips…  

Her awareness stretched uncomfortably forward, her ears beginning to ring-

And snapped back to the present with hardly an impression of Eric opening a plain door and a glimpse of scalpel, leaving a reverberating ache in her head.

She was bitterly reminded why she had never tried to control her futuresight. 

Her teeth gritted. 

Alice’s Coven-mother had been a wonderful teacher, but when Alice had refuted her teachings and instead contented herself with a variety of other amusements their long eternities afforded them, Emilie had made no argument. There hadn’t been a need. She had taught dozens before Alice, all of whom learned at their own pace. 

She had trusted her newest coven-member would learn control eventually.

Alice's eyes burned. It was ridiculous to be mad at someone who had offered to help her, especially someone who was a famed teacher of Talents… and for something that wasn’t even her Coven-mother’s fault. Vampires the world over had sought out her help, though they didn't necessarily belong to her coven. 

Would that Alice had appreciated the opportunity for what it was.

Maybe if she would have tried harder, she would have been able to…

Her eyes burned.

The weight of Alice’s regret would drag her down and cost her her life if she let it. 

She pushed it aside.

The throb in her hand had vanished. The cursed chains were still binding, and because of their continuous, heavy weight, she took care to remain still. 

What would make this Eric crack? Some of her visions suggested that despite the hunter’s experience, he would eventually.

This was assuming she hadn't gone crazy and was only imagining the outcome she wanted. 

There were just as many nagging that he would remain steadfast. That was a thought she did not wish to entertain.

She decided he wasn't a medical worker, as he lacked the other usual scents that accompanied those in that profession, nor did he have anyone close who was hospitalized. Aside from the brief glimmer of his nerves- which, though he was a hunter, she understood, given her own general focus on running when she encountered her own kind- she had little to use against him. 

“We can at least talk,” Alice said quietly, keeping her tone light and speculative as she tried to draw him back into conversation. “I might die of boredom otherwise. Are you one of Charlie’s or one of Bella's?” 

Eric's brow furrowed. 

She hadn't heard enough of the hunters speak to place any accents, though she knew that Bella was local to the eastern side of the country while Charlie was based in the west. 

“You don't share Bella's hostility,” she continued, “but you don't match Charlie's style, either. I can't help but wonder.” She rolled her neck, then paused, thinking again of his scowling countenance right before he had injected her. “Although… that first night might suggest otherwise.”

“We really don't need to talk,” he muttered. 

“Sure we do,” she said. “I think you owe me that much considering you're thinking about taking the morning-star to my eye.”

The gun clattered. Well, she thought. Not as strong as you want everyone to believe.

She grinned. “You thought I couldn't see anything, didn’t you?” 

“I…” Eric shook his head, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “I thought your power was grossly exaggerated.” 

Alice caught a flash of an old, silver car driving down the path, Eric at the wheel. She couldn't see the interior clearly- the mess in the passenger seat felt blurry- 

“I won't rehash an explanation you've already heard,” she replied, watching the dregs of the vision dissipate. Eric’s annoyed profile filled her sight instead. “I scarcely understand it myself.”

“Isn't that an oxymoron? It's your power.” 

She shrugged a shoulder, her eyes tracing the outline of a stain of mold in the corner of the room. “You could say the same for a hunter with anxiety. I could tell you I don’t bite… but I’d be lying.” 

She paused, then continued. 

“This isn’t your first hunt, and I’m certainly not your first vampire. It’s silly to be so nervous.”

He snorted, but did not offer a reply.

She tapped her fingers against the armrests, the pain within them beginning to fade.

“So: Bella, or Charlie?” 

She tilted her head at the approach of voices, wondering for the first time if the walls were designed to dampen her senses. Bella's voice filled the other room, alongside a chorus of faint heartbeats as she discussed transportation, but the words felt as if they were spoken from underwater. Eric’s heart beat steadily in the background, whereas the others she could only barely pick up. The details of Bella’s plans felt unimportant, but the suggestion that the hunter herself would be leaving was significant. 

Alice mentally checked off supply runs on the list of confirmed details she had pieced together. 

“Actually, let me guess. Charlie. Bella seems like she’d be a lot… pickier about who she brings along to these kinds of things. Giving people chances despite their weaknesses?” She thought of the patriarch’s insistence that Alice would talk without torture. “Seems right up Charlie’s alley.”

A scowl darkened his annoyed expression, and she laughed.

As a car door slammed, she continued. “Maybe I’m giving him too much credit, though. It’s just… that morning-star. So clunky. So unwieldy. His go-to.”

Alice reclined back- as much as she could in the tight confines of the chair. 

Another flash of the woman with curly hair and dimples filled her vision. This time she was spinning away from Eric as they danced, the flowing skirt of her wine-colored dress twirling about her legs as a slender arm reached away-

She blinked the vision away, and chose to take a gamble.

“Does your wife know you hunt?”

The butt of the gun slammed against the tabletop. When he spoke, his voice was clipped. “Don’t talk about her.”

“Ouch, touchy,” she said with a roll of her eyes. A bloom of satisfaction unfurled in her chest. “Didn’t know we were putting certain topics off-limits.” 

She stretched her fingers and strained her ears for the voices beyond the door. Bella’s had faded, but she had yet to hear any engines start. There were still too many hunters in the vicinity for her to justify needling the hunter further. 

Her eyes ticked to the covered window. There was still the problem of sunlight. It would be hours before it set beneath the horizon, and knowing her luck, her bodyguard would have changed by then. 

“Since she is off the table, maybe we can talk about the other things you’ve hunted.”

Eric rose, turning his back on her and going for the curtain.

Her teeth clacked shut as she glared at his fingers circling around the chord.

“Keep talking, leech,” Eric said, a slight tremor of anger in his voice. He still wasn’t directly at her. “There are thousands more like you. No one will bat an eye if I kill you.”

Alice pressed her lips together, her hands curling around the arms of the chair. 

Bella seemed to want her alive. She wouldn’t have bothered feeding her otherwise. She wouldn’t have placed a guard. It could be hope talking, surely… but Alice didn’t think so.

Shifting again in her seat, she decided she wasn’t yet willing to bet she was right.

Satisfied she wouldn’t speak further, Eric returned to his seat, his movements choppy as he picked up the weapon to continue his useless cycle of practice. 

Aside from the occasional flash of Eric and his wife, Alice turned her focus towards straining to hear whatever plans Bella was making. Other voices had joined the fray, but remained disturbingly just out of reach. 

Maybe she could set fire to this damned place on her way out.

What glimpses of the future did come through were of the gravel driveway, of the hunters dispersed across it- but they were few and far between, and hardly useful. 

Her thoughts strayed to Bella's right hand, Paul. He was the only one she couldn’t see. Of all the hunters, his future alone was unknown to her- and, curiously, his presence occasionally hid Bella’s. Alice couldn't help but wonder why that was.

She had thought at first it might be because he was a werewolf, though she disproved that quickly. Alice had seen other supernatural creatures in her visions before. Something else shielded him, but she hadn't the faintest idea of who or what it could be.

Lost in her thoughts, she lost track of the time as the seconds ticking by turned into minutes, then hours. Alice barely focused on the snippets of the future, the faded voices, the clatter of metal- it all faded into a dull hum as she waited, sentinel, waiting for the daylight to bleed away. 

When she blinked, breaking free from her strange, silent trance, Eric had left the room sometime in the middle. 

A replacement had not shown up.

There went that theory.

Alice, being alone, groaned and slumped forward. 

Dimly, she was aware of the beginnings of thirst beginning to pinprick the back of her throat.

So much for escaping tonight.