Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Yarn

"Now, I see it."

"What do you see?"

Alec's question announced his return from the unexpected meeting that had called him away not too long ago. I sensed his presence as he came to stand behind me, but I was so lost in thought that I'd not processed his question. I was too busy staring up at a portrait that hung above the fireplace mantle and noting that it was similar to the one I'd seen of Alec during my 'tour'.

I was standing in the common room that connected Jane and Alec's bedrooms. Normal siblings shared a Jack and Jill suite. These two immortal vampires each had a marvellously decorated room to themselves and enjoyed a common area the size of a church. It was no wonder they hadn't formed stronger bonds through the years with the other guard members. They had no need to share the training or game room because they had their own personal one complete with a grand piano in the very center of their common area.

Heidi was taking her time redoing my room, which had left me to camp out in the twin's common room and more specifically, in Alec's room. The siblings and I had settled into an irregular routine that ended with nights where we'd read books, play board games, watch movies, or play Dance Dance Revolution on their television. A game that I was becoming rather fond. Eventually, Jane would retire to her room or other duties and Alec would insist that I had a bedtime.

I only seemed to leave the suite when neither of the twins were guarding me. Felix or Demetri would pick me up at the door and we would relocate to another room. Sometimes, transporting the mat for DDR. (That's right. I use abbreviations now.) Although I hadn't seen the Prank Kings since they left for a mission a few days ago, and we'd parted on a bit of a rocky slope for one very simple reason;

I, kind of — sort of...went rogue.

They kept telling me that their so called, 'greatest prank ever' was almost ready. When I offered my services to make it move faster, the two insisted I had done the only part I could. But nothing happened and they were dodging any curiosity I showed in regards to the subject of pranking. I was cooped up in this stupid castle and I wanted to have some fun. After persistent nagging on my part about when exactly they planned on putting it on, they finally admitted the plan was on hold for creative reasons. Apparently, the timing had to be perfect. In an attempt to compensate, Felix assigned me yet another 'task' to make a list of the people I thought would be suitable pranking targets.

And yes, they were on the top of the list.

Unfortunately for them, they had opened the door to the prank world for me and left the door unlocked without proper supervision. Unable to still my growing curiosity and excitement on the subject, I happened to spill the beans on the whole production to Jane, whose eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

The guys had mentioned that some of the vamps had limits when it came to the pranks they'd pull. What they had failed to mention was that involving the twins was a hard limit; The importance of not involving the twins.

And it was apparently, a castle wide standard. Jane and I had been giggling over possible pranks as she gave me examples of common, every-day pranks. Our laughter attracted Heidi's suspicion and as the word 'prank' slipped from my lips, her eyes went wide. Heidi got our attention face on once we'd settled and she pointed a finger at us. She wagged it at us with the bossiness of a new babysitter that was quickly realising they had very little control over what happened next. Her confidence dissipated when Jane and I responded with false innocence, so she later complained to the Kings of Pranks. This led to Felix pulling me aside one day to give me an unnecessarily theatrical storytelling of the strangely sensitive topic.

According to Felix, the twins had gone through a phase in their younger years where they terrorised the guard, and even the masters, with pranks that nearly 'crossed the delicate pranking line between comedy and mean-spirited actions'. Felix's words — not mine. I have no doubts that he utilised a fair bit of embellishments throughout the rest of his story.