Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Marcus

"Hey, Afton!" The serious vampire stopped, staring at me as if I had two heads. He might not enjoy my next question..."Did you know the earth is round?"

He looked back and forth at the two men behind me before an arid expression overcame his face. "What kind of inane question is that?"

"Never mind." I tossed back over my shoulder, crossing out a date and walking back towards Felix and Demetri. "So, either he was born after the 5th century, or he believes in recent science." I rubbed a finger on my chin in mock contemplation. Only some 1,000 years of possibilities — no big deal.

"What are you three doing?" I looked up slowly to meet Heidi's eyes, marked with the elegance of a French wine. She came to a stop in front of us, hand on her hip and garbed in her usual skin exposing outfit. Though this one held a bit more modesty.

Heidi had been my guard for most of yesterday, surprising me with an immediate trip to her room where we chalked her bedroom walls. She talked a lot, but I didn't mind because she didn't tip toe around subjects. When she turned on surprisingly modern music, she began talking about how she discovered the band on one of her fishing expeditions.

Yeah. That's how I found out. The grand plan took the whole 'being bored to death on a museum tour' to a brand new level. Go figure.

I hadn't seen Alec since that first night.

He'd left me off at my room without a word. Refusing to touch me, even when I'd almost tripped up the stairs. One part of me was grateful, because the last thing I wanted was to be any closer to him. The other part of me spent the rest of the night trying to ignore the way he'd looked at me in the pub as I said his name.

I'd be lying if I said Alec hadn't crossed my mind at all over the last three days. I'd also be lying if I said it had only happened once. The ridiculousness of it all made my disdain for him grow all the more.

The only thing able to occupy my mind when I wasn't being distracted by someone else, was the increased curiosity about my father. There were so many possible things that his friend might have to show me. I had only two days before I was supposed to meet him again. Two days too many. The extra time was precious, but dangerous as I found myself lost in idealised scenarios which led me straight to my father — no more unnecessary risks with vampires. I knew it was all a dream, and while I tried to keep my thoughts realistic, I couldn't help but cross my fingers and wish on a star every night. I needed all the luck I could get.

The more time I spent with Felix and Demetri, the more I forgot that I should be truly terrified by my situation. I had, after all, been kidnapped by vampires and was being forced to become one. Along with the added element that I was to stay human — for a reason that had yet to be sensibly explained to me — in a castle full of vampires who had to try not to eat me for a few weeks. All for the purpose of 'bonding' with my new playmates.

Perhaps the situation was so absurd that I'd processed it and moved on. Or perhaps my rock solid faith in a non-existent escape plan — that had to factor in 'running from vampires', was enough to keep me going. Or maybe it was because every time I tried to remind myself exactly what I was supposed to be afraid of, alI could see was Alec.

He leaned closer to me and his eyes locked with mine. I felt as if we'd returned to that alley, because I couldn't move and I think I forgot how to breathe. Yet, none of that mattered and for a moment, I thought he was lost in the same trance that I was. That is, until he spoke. His voice as slow and dark as I imagined his soul to be.

"Do you feel your heartbeat, human?"

Even the memory of the blood on his lips mere seconds after he'd killed someone in front of me wasn't enough to get my heart racing. At least not in the way it needed to be.