"Stepping forward out into the day

Shrugging off the dust and memory"

Bastille - Weight of Living, Pt. I

MAN SLAUGHTERED AND SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD MISSING
It was supposed to be a fun night for Olivia Blanche and her friends. Her mother, Miranda Blanche, reports that the young girl was supposed to arrive at her birthday party at 8:30 but, when she never showed up, something obviously was wrong.

At 8:40 pm on Saturday evening, a biker, who wishes to remain anonymous, discovered an abandoned taxi on the side of McDaniel's Road. The biker stated that he would not have stopped had he not seen the taxi's door on the other side of the street. At the time, he saw no one around the taxi.

Later that evening, police found the driver's- James Abbot- body in a ditch off of the road. The police report that the taxi had been dispatched to pick up Blanche just an hour and a half before the taxi was found.

Blood found at the scene has been matched to both the driver and Blanche, who is believed to be injured. At this time, police have no suspects. Miranda Blanche says that her daughter had no reason to run away, nor did her daughter take any of her savings or extra clothes. "Hope is what's keeping me going," said the grieving mother. "My entire existence is about finding her, and I need all the help I can get."

Blanche has been declared a missing person. She is described as being 5 foot 10 inches tall, 122 pounds, with red hair and green eyes. She has a dark red scar on her shoulder and another one on her leg.

If anyone has any knowledge of what happened or where Olivia Blanche might be, call the state sheriff's office at 555-667-9876.

I am burning. Every inch of my body is on fire. I hurt. I ache. I am being torn apart. Is this hell? Is this what I get for not feeding my pet goldfish when I was seven? For calling Abby Seymour a two-faced whore? I am so sorry, Mr. Splashy.

But screw you, Abby.

Whatever this pain is, it is cruel and unusual punishment. It's torture. I want to stop hurting. I want nothingness. No feeling, no nothing. Nothing would be better than this. Why am I hurting? Why? Whywhywhy?

I have never hurt this bad before. Not when I fell off the stage platform. Not when I broke my nose running into a pole. Twice. Not when I sledded into my mom's car. None of those could compare to this. I should be dead. Why wasn't I dead? No one should be able to endure this much pain. No one, especially not me.

Help. Help. Help. Someone was screaming. Was it me? It might be me. The voice seems familiar. I think it's me. Why can't I stop screaming?

I've lost all sense of time. I don't know if I have been burning for a minute or an hour or a day. All I can focus on is-

The pain is fading. Out of nowhere, it's just not as bad. I don't know why it's lessening but I can't help be thankful for the reprieve. My feet have stopped burning.

Now my ankles.

Now my legs.

"She should be waking up soon," a voice says. It's a statement, one made matter-of-factly. I think I know the voice. Do I know the voice? My head feels fuzzy, as if everything is being smudged about.

"As would be expected." I don't know that voice. Whose voice is that? Why are they here if I don't know them? Did I get hurt somehow? Maybe it's a doctor.

My head hurts. I try and remember what happened before the burning started. I had a dress. It was gold. It was a party dress. A party. Was I going to a party? Yes. That's it. A party. There was a taxi. I was in a taxi. I was sleeping. Sort of. Was I sleeping? There was a face at the window. A beautiful one.

The beautiful face. The boy with the beautiful face was a voice in the room I am in. He threw me to the ground. Rude. He bit me? He bit me. Yes. That's when the pain started. When he bit me. Rude.

The pain is centered in my throat. My throat is all that's left burning. It's scratchy and unpleasant. I don't like it. My heart. I can feel my heart too. Is it speeding up? Yes. It's going fast. Why? Why is it going fast? It's going too fast. It's going too fast. This isn't good. It shouldn't be this fast.

It stops. My heart has stopped. Am I dead? Wasn't the burning hell? If that was hell, why am I just dying? Maybe it wasn't hell. Am I in hell now?

I open my eyes.

I look around. Where am I? I don't recognize this place. The room is dark, but I can see clearly. The walls are stone. Old. Old stone. Almost like one would see in a castle. Am I in a castle? Why would I be in a castle? I'm being silly. I take a breath. It's odd and feels unnecessary. Another breath. Same feeling.

The boy with the beautiful face is one of two people in front of me. He's staring at me. It's making me uncomfortable. But the other man is staring too. I don't think I like this other man. He isn't as beautiful as the boy. He looks older, not just physically, but in how he presents himself. He's been around for a long time.

The older man takes a step closer to the bed where I am lying. "Do you know who you are?" he asks. His voice is excited. Intrigued. Enthusiastic. Yes, enthusiastic, that's the best word.

Who am I? I know I was going to a party. My party. Was it my birthday? Yes. Sixteen? No. Seventeen. But my birthday wasn't until the next day. Am I still sixteen? Wait. He asked who I was. I know who I am. I've written the name plenty of times on paper. It was an O. It starts with an O. My name is

"Olivia" I say slowly. "My name's Olivia." He nods as if he knew that. How did he know that? He knows me but I don't know him. I don't think I like that. "Who are you?" I ask. My words come fast, almost impossibly so. I don't remember being able to speak this fast, but I don't know what I do or don't remember quickly.

"I am Aro, my dear," he replies with a grand flourish of his arms. Odd. Him and his name. It's old, I think. How old is he? Who names anyone Aro?

The boy with the beautiful face hasn't moved. He's still completely still. How could anyone be so still? I narrow my eyes. This is odd. I don't like it. Too still. Words too fast. The man- Aro- knows too much.

"Who's he?" My eyes flicker to the boy and then back to Aro. I'm not comfortable here. I want home. Home. Home is good. Who's at home? My mother. My mother would be at home. And my sister. My baby sister. I wonder if they're worried about me. I never showed up at the party. My party.

Aro smiles widely. "That is Alec." Alec. It's fitting. A beautiful name for the beautiful face. Why am I so focused on him? My focus on him is almost gratuitous. I need to stop. Stop. Stop focusing on him. My eyes go to him again. I can't stop looking at him. God. I need help.

I am suddenly aware of the burn in my throat again. It never went away but I was distracted by Aro and Alec. My name doesn't fit. O. Aro is talking again. I don't care what he has to say. He isn't important to me. My throat is important to me. And the burn. I want the burn to go away.

"Olivia." I look at Aro. "Your throat is hurting you, isn't it?" How did he know? I stare at him for a moment before nodding. "Alec," the boy turns to Aro.

"Yes, master?" he asks. Master? That's weird. This is weird. "Go get Miss Blanche a treat." I didn't tell him my name. He knows my name. What else does he know about me?

Alec leaves the room quickly, with purpose. "Why is my throat burning?" I whisper. Aro doesn't answer me. The burn in my throat suddenly gets worse. What's that smell? Something smells delicious. I want whatever it is.

Something is pushed into the room and all I know is that I am a predator and that is my prey. I move off of the bed I am on, stalking towards my prey. They whimper in fear and I almost laugh. They're scared of me. They should be.

I reach down and pull it up to my mouth. I inhale deeply and the next thing I know is that my teeth are embedded in their neck. Blood fills my mouth and it is delicious. More. More. I want more. It's helping with the burn. The burn is fading. I still want more blood though.

There's a hand on my shoulder. I spin around fast and hiss. My blood. Instinctively, I push my hands out and shove whoever put their hand on my shoulder- Alec. It was Alec. I pause, but then I creep towards him. "Mine" I whisper, eyes narrowed.

There's a laugh behind me. Aro. It's more of a cackle though. "Is that better, dear?" I nod. The blood helped with the burn.

Blood.

Wait.

Blood. I am horrified. I turn around and I am unsurprised at what I see. There is a pale corpse resting on the floor. I killed them. Me. I.

I drank their blood and killed them. They're dead. Because of me. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. What have I done? What have I done? What have they done?

I turn around slowly, not wanting to face them. They did this to me. This is their fault. I open my mouth to speak but I'm quickly interrupted. "I'm sure you're wondering what has, ah, become of you," states Aro.

I resist the urge to make a face and go "Oh, really?" I don't think either of the two would respond well to that. Instead, I nod, curious to know. The way he phrased it is odd, too. Become, he said, not happened to.

Have I changed? Yes, I do think so. It's rather obvious. But how is what I want to know. I'm not sure of what the answer will be. I've never really believed in anything not normal, not typical. I sort of shrugged off anything strange.

Aro reaches out to grab my hand and I watch as his eyes glaze over. A smile spreads across his face. "You really haven't any idea." No, I don't. Wait, how did he know? Can he read minds? I pull my hand back, clutching it to my chest.

There's a cough from behind him. Alec's eyes are narrowed and a scowl mars his features. "Vampire, you stupid girl, you are a vampire." I make a choking noise but I have to admit it makes sense. The blood, the strength, the bite.

"Alec, be kind to Olivia. I'm sure you remember how difficult it was for you when you were first changed," Aro chastises.

"I do remember but I also recall that I was not a complete moron." He looks so smug and I want to reach forward and slap the smirk off of his face.

Aro frowns. "Now, Alec-"

"But why me?"

"Because you got away," Aro enthuses. "That news came as a shock to me, though I'm sure Alec was more surprised." My eyes turn to Alec. He's still glaring at me. If looks could kill…

Aro reaches out once again but I step back out of his reach. His smile falters. "I am one of the three leaders of the Volturi. You could call us the police of the vampire world. I would like you to join our guard."

"I believe your talent-" Was he talking about the teleportation? I can hardly control it. How could it ever be useful to him? "-can be developed so that you can control it better. I think it could be of great use to myself and the rest of the guard, if ever the time arose."

Somehow I don't feel like I am being given a choice in the matter. It's join or die, nothing else. As much as I don't want to say yes, I don't want to actually die either.

"Alright," his smile grows wider, "But what would it require of me?"

"You would live here, of course, at Castello di Volterra, and would patrol the castle. You would also go out to enforce the rules when needed," it sounds like he has said this thousands of times. It also sounds like he isn't telling me everything

"What are the rules?" I ask. I'm sure it will be something obvious, like don't tell humans, but I want to make sure so I don't make more of a fool of myself later.

"Ah, perhaps the term rules is misleading. There is only one: keep the secret," Aro states. I smile to myself, after all I was correct. "When other vampires try and get around this rule, it's necessary to remedy the situation."

This is a whole lot to process. I am a vampire. A vampire. I killed someone today. And now I'm being asked to join some sort of vampire police? This seems like some sort of sick joke but, deep down, I know it's not one.

"Alec, could you go find Miss Blanche something more suitable to wear and then show her to her room?" Aro asks. By now, I'm sure that whatever Aro says isn't a question but a non-refusable suggestion. I dread the thought of seeing what happened if someone ignored what he had to say.

Alec walks briskly out of the room and I figure that's my cue. As I'm about to cross through the doorway, Aro places a hand on my shoulder. "I'd recommend to you, Miss Blanche, that you do not make trouble here. I'm not sure that you would like it if you did otherwise." His tone is light, but his words are heavy. I nod quickly, hopefully showing my understanding, and hurry to catch up with Alec.

The hallway is quite long with dark grey stone on either side of me. Paintings and different artifacts line the hallway and I'm sure they're worth millions, if not priceless. God, I wonder if some of these pieces were acquired while the makers were still alive.

"It would do you well to keep up. Some of the other members of the guard may not like to find a newborn wandering about the halls." He doesn't even turn back to look at me as he says this, but I do my best to catch up. He turns into a room off of the main walk and I follow quickly behind him.

Just as I walk in, he pushes a light grey bundle into my arms. "You are to wear this cloak at all times. The color represents your rank. Being as new as you are," he sneers, "You are to be in light grey."

I can't help but smile. "This really isn't my color, though. Darker grey really makes my hair stand out." No response. Not even a chuckle. Tough crowd. I unfold the cloak and pull it around me, finally managing to take a look at my dress. Red stains are splashed upon it. Some on the body, from me and my… meal. Some closer to the collar, not from me.

"Thanks for getting blood on my favorite dress." I mutter. This, surprisingly, does get a response.

Alec takes a step towards me, head tilted to the side. "Pity. You did taste rather good, I almost couldn't stop myself" he says quietly, a predatory smile on his face. My eyes are locked on his but eventually I have to break eye contact. Stupid beautiful boy.

Smiling as if he has won some sort of prize, he saunters out of the room. Meanwhile, my pride is somewhere on the ground. I walk behind him through the corridors. They seem almost endless as we wind through the halls, making lefts and rights and descending a staircase. Out of the corner my eye, I notice a mirror.

I glance at Alec, who, one, is still in front of me and, two, is still not really talking to me, before stopping to look at my reflection. It's me but, at the same time, it's not. I recognize the shape of my eyes, large and doe-like, but the blood red color is startling. Having broken it twice, seeing my nose completely straight is an oddity. My hair is just as wavy and red, perhaps less frizzy, and a bit longer. I'm slightly taller than I remember (shoot me now, please) and I seem leaner.

I reach out to touch the not-me reflection. She's wearing the shocked expression I'm sure is on my face. "Yes, you're pretty, get over it." His hand is on my arm, trying to lead me off to wherever we were going. "Oh, Alec, give her a minute to look at herself. She's gorgeous! Let her indulge."

I turn around to look at the new person and I have to say goodbye to all the self-esteem I thought I had. The girl-woman- in front of me is a few inches shorter than me, but everything about her screams bombshell. Her hair is dark brown and pin straight, falling to her waist. Her lips are in a full pout and she's absolutely and utterly beautiful.

"So you are the newborn the fuss is all about," she muses slowly, her eyes flickering to Alec, "Oh, Alec, you were right. She does smell good, like coconut, vanilla, and all sort of flowery." I'm not sure how to reply to this, but I'm happy just to see Alec squirm.

"I hope he's not being too much of a drag. Such a stickler for rules and order." The woman turns back to face me as I cough back a laugh, not even attempting to hide my smile. "I'm Corin, by the way, and I think you are Olivia."

I nod. "Nice to meet you," I say out of habit. She laughs before replying "I'm sure it is, but everyone says that."

"Corin, if you don't mind, I must show her to her room." Alec's arms are crossed, held against her chest. Corin turns to him, an innocent smile across your face. "And to think, you were the one so focused on a human just a few days ago."

I can see his jaw tense, but he says nothing. Corin stands on her toes, her face near mine. "If you ever get away from him, come find me and we'll find something fun to do." One last smile at Alec and she's on her way to wherever she's going. As nice as she seems, I stopped paying attention to her words after I heard what she said to Alec. Why was he focused on me? What made me different than any other human?

"Corin is a nuisance," he mutters.

"I don't know, I kind of like her," I reply airily. It's more to try to annoy him than anything, but his face remains impassive. He's quiet for the rest of the way we walk.

"This is your room." I step inside and gasp. It's absolutely giant. There's a four-post bed in the center of the room, along with a dresser and a night table. Other than that, it's rather empty. I like it.

"I hope you don't pay much attention to Corin," he's right in front of me now. "Most of what she says is an exaggeration, or only said to get a rise out of someone."

"That said, though, you do smell good." I'm sure my eyes are wide at this point. He's standing right in front of me and there's barely any space between us. In a moment, though, he's standing by the door.

"You're expected in the throne room at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Do not be late." With that, I watch as he turns and steps out of my room, shutting the door behind him.

It's going to be a very long night.

So. My mother had my computer. My computer was acting weird. Instead of backing it up like I told her, she didn't. It crashed. I lost all of the chapters I had. And everything else I had on my computer. I was going to update on New Year's but then I couldn't. I finally got out of my mopey slump to rewrite everything. So this chapter is kind of gross.

Anyways. I'm expecting this story to be about 28 chapters long, give or take a few. I have a detailed summary of every chapter written out (one of the few things that was saved)

The Mystery or piesareawesome: Thank you! And it is Alec because he is my favorite.

Guests: Thanks for reviewing!

Aspen: That would be problematic.

Renataxluz – Yeaaaah. I figured I should finish it. Translation: I really wanted to finish it.

Dustfinger's cheering section: I have a whole chapter to addressing the matter. It's more like a part of a chapter because it's a big chapter but it does get addressed. Thank you!

DynamicCheetah: I'm kind of tall? So I made her tall. But she's taller than me so. And it was Demetri.

Preview:

"So what you're saying is we're going to be walking around the castle for the next six hours. Doing nothing" I stop walking and just look at him.

He continues down the hall, not bothering a glance towards me. "It's for the security of the castle."

I cough. "Yeah, because everyone thinks it's a great idea to attack a castle full of super powerful vampires. That is definitely on my to-do list."