A/N: Alright, well, if you guys don't review, I'll stop posting, you understand that right? The last chapter was to see if I still had readers, but I'm giving one more chance. So, less than five reviews and it's done, kay?
What if tomorrow never comes
How will I know you loved me?
I just need something to live for
So I'll never die again.
What if tomorrow never comes
How will I know you loved me?
I just need something to live for
So I'll never die again. Again.
Chiodos – Hathaway Lane
As I was dragged past security, I took the last look at my family. The plane ride was hell. I kept my eyes closed the entire time, the headphones for my iPod pressed into my ears as I ignored the vampire seated next to me. I knew it had been done on purpose. He was my age, insanely attractive, perfect in every way. But he didn't smell like wet dog and warmth didn't radiate from his body. And his eyes were red. His shaggy dark brown hair was something foreign and unattractive to me now. His perfect body was too pale. In short, he wasn't Caleb. They wouldn't choose my mate to make me stay here. My love was in Forks, and, as the plane landed in Italy and he carried my bags for me and placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me off of the plane and to the cars. Our only accompaniment at the moment was Jane. As we loaded into the car, in the back seat, I saw another of their kind…my kind, as the driver.
Once more, it was headphones shoved into my ears the entire time. When we got into Volterra, I couldn't help but take in the Tuscan beauty all around me. It was too riveting, but I remained stoic, unresponsive. Maybe I would die of heartache. Everything around me reminded me of Forks, and everything that made me think of Forks made me think of Caleb.
They finally pulled in at the visitors entrance, as the day was rather cloudy. The escort I had been given gripped my arm firmly and pulled me in, and then the smell of human blood hit my nose like a wrecking ball. I wanted to puke. The only time I'd craved it was in my dizziest and blindest of hunger. I leaned against the wall, feeling slightly disoriented as this odd boy continued to pull on my arm. Jane glared at me threateningly, not using her odd ability, and I continued, needing some help to support myself.
"Sorry, there's a small feast going on in there, right now. I find it appetizing. Would you like a taste, Claire?" she asked.
"You're despicable," I said through gritted teeth as the red fog around me made me feel completely outside my body.
"You'll see things our way when you begin to starve and need it," came a voice from a doorway nearby. Alec, I figured, was the one walking forward who embraced small Jane in a sibling-like hug. I rolled my eyes, they were just children. "So, Claire, how do you find our home to your liking?" he asked, gesturing around himself at the plain and ordinary hall we stood in, walls bare except for a small bar at the end.
"I don't," I hissed. He only smiled genially, adjusting the collar of the suit he was wearing before nodding to the boy who held me by the arm. "Well, I hope you enjoy your living arrangements as much as you like our home," Alec said. His voice wasn't menacing, but held an undercurrent of smugness. We went through doors and hallways as I began to notice how Medieval this place was beginning to look. After a while a door was opened and I was shoved into one of the rooms.
It was incredibly random, not Medieval at all, but it looked like a laboratory. The white tiled floors reminded me of something in a science fiction movies as they seemed to glow with a light underneath. The walls were the same, as was the ceiling. The boy ushered me to a gurney and, without giving me any warning, placed me on top of it and strapped me down. Though I tried breaking the bonds that held me, I couldn't. Where was Emmet when I needed him?
Out of anger, I hissed at him and tried to snap at him as he leaned down to place a needle into my forearm. I winced in pain. Nothing had ever penetrated my skin before, not that I could remember. I felt a coolness wash through me as I noticed my blood being extracted. I glared at him.
"What are you doing to me?" I asked, eyes narrowed.
"What we brought you here for," he said in a smooth voice. "Listen, I'm sorry this is how it has to be, but we have keep you in here all the time. I'll be back in about ten minutes with Aro when we've gotten enough of your blood."
"Just kill me, I feel dead right now anyway," I hissed.
"I can't. I'd be killed for doing that. You're the newest addition to the Volturi guard, but you need to be trained first. Once we figure out what makes you tick, exactly, then your training and…mental readjustments can begin. You won't be leaving us for a very, very long time," he said before walking out. I watched as the needle in my arm transmitted my blood to a large bag, the kind used when people donate blood. I whimpered loudly.
This was awful. This was torture. I'd never had anything poking through my skin and it hurt so badly. I wanted to break the bonds holding me down to this gurney, but I couldn't. I was too weak, too human. My anger was causing all the lights in the room to flicker and then I remembered my abilities. The bag in which my blood was being transported was even glowing. They were still mentally connected to me. I focused and then all the lights in the building went out, the power went out, and the locks to the bonds on the gurney clicked off and I rose from where I sat, yanking the needle out of my arm. I glanced at the bag with my blood in it. What could I do now? They had it. I ran for it, smashing doors as I went and tried to find an exit.
Everywhere I turned in the darkness there was someone, and the power I'd absorbed from the entire building definitely helped me. Blinding them was fun. I finally made it to the front door before I fell to the ground, feeling a hand on my ankle as I was pulled back. I writhed and squirmed, absorbing power and shooting bursts of energy at him, but nothing would make Caius let go of me.
"Clarissa, Clarissa. I see things are going to be more difficult than we anticipated with you. I thought you said you'd cooperate in order to keep your family safe," Caius said, extracting a small cell phone from his robe. I bit my lip and stopped my squirming. I released the absorbed energy as the building lit up again. "That's a girl. Now, what can we do to make it so that you won't try anything again?"
"Actually give me a nice place to stay," I said under my breath.
"What do you mean by that? I thought you'd like the lab," he said with a smirk. "Oh well, we have enough of your blood anyway. Jason, take her to her bedroom," Caius hissed as the boy from before placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me, once more, through corridors, doors, and halls until he opened the door to a room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all white. There was a queen-sized bed in it and a radio the size of the one my father had at Carlisle's house. It was perfect. Anything I could ever want in a bedroom was here. It was huge, and rows of paints and markers sat on the floor.
"What is this?" I asked, shaking my head.
"Aro knew exactly what you wanted. Now in you go. You're to stay in here until tonight. We'll send someone to fetch you. Knock yourself out, the TV has a great picture," he said, tossing me a remote. I caught it easily, slightly shocked and slightly pissed as the lights in the room only began to flicker. I controlled it though, and they lit back up. I stared at the television with the big screen and DVD player. I saw about fifty horror movie DVDs in the cabinet with about a hundred books. I threw the remote at the bed before walking to the markers on the floor and beginning to write all over my walls. Words to get out my emotions. It had been something I'd longed for since my change.
I was angry a lot. My mother almost killed me when I wrote on the walls in my room the first time. Sharp words were the style now. When I had finished with that, after about an hour and a ton of sharpie marks on my hand later, I went to get a piece of paper and a pencil, sitting at the desk I had been given. I sketched a picture, not really knowing what I was sketching until I noticed the soft gray eyes, the light hair, the perfect tanned skin, the beautiful face. I broke down then, seeing his face on paper. Tears flooded my eyes and I fell from the chair, gripping myself and trying to hold onto the sanity I had left.
Slowly, I crawled to the bed and laid down, letting my tears be the thing to put me to sleep.
----------Meanwhile in Forks---------
"How do we get her back?" Caleb asked Bella with a glare as he paced the floor of the Cullen living room.
"Caleb, you need to calm down," Edward demanded, though he was angry too, he wasn't as vindictive as Caleb was. It was a werewolf thing. Caleb shot him a glare and Edward moved so fast he was unseeable. He had Caleb pinned against a wall by his neck. "Your anger could get my family killed. Wait until we're near an enemy to lose your temper, pup. And keep in mind that I love Claire too. Do well to remember that we all do." Edward dropped Caleb then before dropping back into the chair he had been in only a few moments before. The room was silent as Caleb coughed a second and sat down on the couch.
"So, I've tracked her. She's definitely in Volterra now, in their castle," Carlisle said, emerging on the scene.
"How do you know?" Edward asked, tilting his head to the side as Bella placed her arms around him from where she stood behind the chair.
"Rolling blackouts all over the city about every ten minutes. She's angry. She's really, really angry. I can guarantee she doesn't even know she's doing it. The entire city is getting power surges like nothing the world has ever seen. It will become a big deal if we don't hurry up and take care of our Claire. She's gonna kill herself in the process…she's absorbing too much energy without even knowing it."
"Then let's go," Emmet said, standing up. Rosalie looked just as prepared to fight for her niece as well. Caleb's expression as he stood was one of defiance, no longer anger.
"We're going to save her. But the problem is…Alice has seen the way they will be keeping her if she doesn't stop her waves of attack," Edward said softly, his voice pained as he thought about it.
"What's wrong?" Caleb asked, eyes wide.
"She's in a cage, a needle in her arm collecting more blood than she can afford to give without passing out. She's in pain, slowly dying. Once they're done testing her, they'll try and brainwash her. She's starving herself in refusal of what they give her to eat: human blood. They'll try and turn her into one of the guard if she survives all that testing. And then she'll be lost to us," Edward said sadly.
"So we need to act now," Emmet said again.
"Alice, what are the Volturi going to do if we go now," Jasper asked as he sat next to his love. Alice sighed and took control of her visions again.
"They will try and kill us. We'd have to bring the wolves along. There'd be no way to do it without them. Even with their help it would be an incredible stretch to survive it. But we can," she said in a whisper.
"I'll go down to La Push," said Keira, who had remained silent the entire time. Her pack had decided it would be best to stay outside when there were vampires around. She immediately walked out of the house and changed, dashing into the forest, followed by the rest of her pack except Caleb.
Time went by before Keira returned, wearing only a towel around herself.
"They said they'd help if it's for a fellow pack. They understand Caleb's need to save her. He imprinted…she cannot be kept away from him. It's against all forms of nature," Keira said. "They already got us all tickets for the first flight out to Italy available."
"Thank God," Caleb said, massaging his temples as he leaned forward where he sat. He was overwhelmed and everyone could tell. "Keira, go home and get the things packed. I'll help the Cullens here. Take the rest of the pack with you. We'll meet at the airport in an hour." She nodded before leaving, this time getting to the treeline before she changed and the pack followed her out.
"We'll get her back, Caleb," Bella said in a soft voice. "Somehow, she'll be safe in our arms soon. We won't let our baby girl become an experiment."
"I know. I'm scared for her though. She won't know how to relax in that environment. She'll kill others, she could even kill herself," Caleb whispered. "I can see her now, laying on a bed in tears as she tried to calm down and tries to sleep. She misses us, I know that. She did it for us, and now she wishes she hadn't because of us," Caleb said softly.
"I'm sure she misses you the most, Caleb," Edward said. Caleb sighed and looked out a window, staring at Forks. Who would have thought when they came here he would find this overwhelmingly perfect girl? And now she was dying and he had to save her. After about thirty minutes of packing, everyone loaded into two cars, Caleb going in his car by himself to the airport where they all met.
The plane for Claire had left almost a day ago by now. She had arrived only about three hours before. They were in for a long and anxious flight.
A/N: Alright, short, I know. I've got a ton going on right now and I rarely even have time to write with these honors classes biting my ass. So, review please. I didn't get many on the last chapter. If I don't get a good amount, I'm likely to discontinue the story. So, you should review .