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Aro stared down the three men amused, it was rather sweet in a way. They really thought that they were going to rob him. He supposed that he would look rather non-threatening to the unknowledgable observer, but they wouldn’t remain ignorant for long.
He had gone too long without feeding, he thought to himself. He knew that he had become soft within the walls of his castle, he fed every two weeks like clockwork which meant that he hadn’t felt truly thirsty in many decades. Of course, everyone within the Volturi would like to feed more often than that but it wasn’t practical to have tourists brought in too often as procuring them in a way that wouldn’t draw attention was time consuming. Aro wished, not for the first time, that he was able to simply leave the castle to hunt like his guard. However, kingly duties and power also carried kingly responsibilities. And a vampire king must always look over his shoulder.
Business had brought him to America and Aro had taken the opportunity to look in on his erstwhile companion, Carlisle. He had lived within the castle for a few decades some two hundred years previously but Aro never forgot a friend, especially one as relatively innocent as Carlisle. Aro knew that he had his own coven now and had taken great pleasure in meeting them. He had tried to recruit a few of them for himself but he had known that it wasn’t likely to work. The Cullens were bound together by their unnatural diet and affinity with the human lifestyle. Aro couldn’t understand it, why act like creatures that are so patently beneath you? The tiger does not mimic the deer, after all.
Focusing back on the matter at hand, he caught the end of some unimaginative threat on the part of the largest of the three humans and he chuckled.
“What’re you laughing at, crazy?” The human retorted, furrowing his brow as he brandished a knife and Aro watched it glitter in the faint light of a far off street sign.
Aro smiled, allowing his full presence to manifest itself. It had been far too long since had really allowed himself to use his nature in order to intimidate. Humans viewed his kind as creatures of the night and so he must be in his element; a dark alley in the dead of night in some half-forgotten corner of Seattle. He had enjoyed hunting immensely back when he had been able to and he felt thankful for Carlisle for having such strict rules about not hunting near their home so as to not draw undue suspicion onto them.
Just as Aro was about to lash out, killing the other two men before draining the one who had dared to speak to him in such a manner, a voice caught all four of their attentions.
“What’s going on? I’m on the phone to the police right now. I swear if you don’t get away from him you’ll regret it,” the voice belonged to a diminutive woman in her early twenties by the looks of it. Human too. Aro would have found the situation amusing if it wasn’t getting out of hand so quickly. If that woman was on the phone with the police already, and he could hear that she was, then he would be breaking his own rules by killing her in order to neutralise the situation.
The humans didn’t seem threatened by her in the slightest and Aro couldn’t help but notice that her blood smelled very sweet indeed. Perhaps he could get her alone somehow...it shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Stay back! I have mace!” She warned, pulling out the aforementioned item and waving it around in a way that suggested that she didn’t know how to use it in the slightest.
One of the men twitched and the clearly terrified woman pressed the trigger and the liquid shot out at high speed catching the man directly in the face. Some of it landed on Aro but other than it having the potential to stain his clothes and smelling awful, it was of no bother to him. Apparently it was not a weapon to be trifled with, however, as the man dropped to the ground and began to roll pathetically from side to side, trying to rub his eyes.
“Fuck this,” one of the other men said. “Help me take him!”
They picked up the leader of the group and dragged him away, uncaring for how the rough concrete scraped his skin. Aro could smell the blood in the air and venom pooled in his mouth. It seemed that fate was not on his side this day.
Turning to the woman, Aro took in her features properly. She was pretty, small and fragile-looking in a way that he knew from the minds of those that he had consumed brought out a protective feeling in humans. Vampires too. Though Aro could not understand that compunction nearly as well. She seemed nervous, which made sense. Aro could hear her heart thundering in her chest as she peered at him with those wide, brown eyes. So human. Aro could not remember the last time that he had looked into the eyes of a human.
“Are you ok?” She asked, stepping towards him slightly. Clearly what she saw upset her as she clasped a hand to her mouth in dismay. “Your eyes! They’re completely red! Did I get some of the mace in your eyes?”
Aro decided to go along with her explanation, humans often supplied the perfect ruse to cover their inhumanity themselves. So eager were they to dismiss anything that fell outside of their pathetic worldview.
“Yes, you did, I’m afraid. But no bother. I will wash my eyes when I return to my hotel,” that much was true, he would wash his face, moreso to rid himself of the smell than anything else.
“I’m so sorry, I’ve never had to use it before. My dad gave it to me a while ago, he said it might come in handy,” she looked down sheepishly, “and I suppose it has, just not for me.”
“Don’t apologise, you were merely trying to help. And you did convince them to depart, so your quest was not a complete failure.”
She flushed under his gaze and Aro couldn’t place the source of her reaction: was she still frightened? There wasn’t any danger that he could see, even to one as fragile as she no doubt was. Perhaps, she was taken in by the allure that his kind possessed. It was an enigma. How their look served to both draw in and repulse humankind.
They walked out of the alley and into the street which was lit with a series of lamps as well as neon signs from the nearby shop, a hodgepodge mess of light. Aro did not enjoy it one bit, the lack of foresight on the part of humans so as to create something that was so jarring on the senses was astounding. Not for the first time, he mused on how natural it was for his kind to be the natural predator of the human. Still, he had one particular human to deal with. One particular human that he could not kill at least tonight. While she had hung up when she realised that things were not going to progress in the fashion that she had no doubt imagined, it did not help him overly much. He had heard her give their exact location and he knew enough about hiding murders from human governments to know that information such as calls to their authorities could and would be tracked down. Aro was loath to leave any loose ends, he had to follow his rules more strictly than any other of their kind except for his two brothers. None of them were afforded the same relative leniency that they bestowed onto others.
“What were you doing in an alley like that, anyway?” She asked, drawing him out of this reverie.
Aro frowned, thinking of an answer that would satisfy her, “I was thinking to take a shortcut, though I became lost. I realise now that it was not a good idea.”
Now it was the human’s turn to frown, “You must have no self preservation instincts, you could have been killed!”
Aro snorted, he very much could not have been killed. Still, he had to play human for the time being and so he made his excuses.
“Ah, where I am from we do not have much crime. I took for granted that I would be safe,” he replied.
“Where are you from?” She asked curiously before her eyes widened, “I’m Bella by the way, sorry for not introducing myself before.”
“My name is Aro,” he didn’t see the point in lying, “and I am from a small town in Italy. Very close knit which is why I didn’t think that crime was a worry. A foolish thought.”
The foolish thought seemed to be that he would get to feed tonight, it seemed. The human, Bella, seemed to be loath to leave him and he wasn’t sure if it was attraction or a misplaced form of protectiveness.
“Oh,” her voice sounded far off, “that explains your accent.”
“It does?” Aro prided himself on being flawlessly proficient in all of the languages that he spoke and so the news that his English had a discernible accent was unwelcome news.
She blushed, “Yeah, you do sound European. I just couldn’t pin where exactly.”
Ah, he thought, that was better. European he could deal with.
“Thank you for your assistance. May I walk you to where you are going? It only seems fair that I returned the favour,” he said, putting on his most trustworthy voice which only seemed to make her heart beat quicker. Was he scaring her?
She seemed dazed for a moment before blinking a few times and coming back to herself, “I was going to ask if I could walk you back to your hotel actually. I don’t trust you not to get into more trouble.”
Aro laughed despite himself. This human had her instincts so backwards. She was feeling protective of him, wanting to make sure that he was safe when he was the single biggest threat to her life in the entire city. In an odd way it softened him up to her, she was so earnest. Aro wondered what the tenor of her mind would be. He thought of natural ways to touch her. A handshake could work but he found himself wanting to use his supposed nationality in order to instigate a kiss on the cheek. A kiss would work just as well. Hurriedly, he pushed the thought away, that was no way to be thinking about his food.
“I shall be fine, Bella,” he purred, attempting to persuade her. “It is more important that you get where you need to be safe and sound.”
“Um, if you’re sure? I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. If you have bad luck like I do, those men will find you again,” Bella seemed to regret her words as soon as they left her mouth. “Sorry! I sound like I’m trying to follow you around, huh?”
Yet again, Aro found himself terribly amused at how fragile she seemed to think him.
“No not fret, I will be fine. If those men do come across me again I shall be ready.”
“You wouldn’t try to fight them, would you?” She said, looking askance. “And I thought I was the one with no common sense.”
“Well,” he replied as they began to walk, presumably to wherever this human was going, “you did insert yourself into a very dangerous situation for the sake of a stranger.”
A stranger who was in no danger, he added mentally.
“Yeah,” Bella said sheepishly, avoiding his gaze, “I don’t ever do that usually. I just...felt like I had to help. Like I was compelled somehow.”
Aro puzzled over her choice of words for a moment, wanting to reach out to touch so that he could know exactly what this singular human meant. He would find out all in due time.
“Thank you for saving me, even if it wasn’t your usual modus operandi.”
They continued to walk for some time in silence, neither of them having anything to say. The neighbourhood was quite rough, Aro had chosen it for that reason. A murder would not draw suspision here. However, as he walked next to this human who huddled against the cold night air in a coat that was far too large for her, he wished that wasn’t the case. Clearly Bella lived around here, there was no other reason for her to be here so late at night.
“You live around here?” Aro asked, needing the confirmation. If she had been wearing less he could have accidentally brushed against her but the coat prohibited that.
“Um, yes I do. Not the best neighbourhood, I know, but it’s cheap. I, um, was just walking home from work when I saw you,” she replied, clearly she had the very common human trait of oversharing when she was nervous.
“It is no place for one such as you,” he replied and even he wasn’t fully aware of what he meant by those words.
Bella laughed hollowly, “You sound like my dad, he doesn’t like that I’m here either. He lives up in Forks, basically this boring town out in the middle of nowhere.”
“I know Forks,” Aro cut in, wanting her to not skip on the details because of a perceived lack of knowledge on his part.
“That’s surprising. Anyway, he gave me the mace that I used to deal with that guy so I should be grateful really.”
“But you’re not?” Aro guessed, he hated guessing.
She sighed longsufferingly, “I just wish he’d realise that I’m an adult, you know? He still thinks I’m his baby girl.”
“Ah, a father’s role is to protect his child. That does not change with age.”
“Do you have children?” She asked intently, “A wife? Anything like that?”
Aro smiled, he did have children in a way. But Jane and Alec would not be what she meant when she said children. And he certainly did not have a wife anymore.
“I have no children and I am divorced, amicably I’m afraid. No torrid affairs or the like.”
Bella blushed yet again, the blood flooding her cheeks reminding Aro of just how hungry he was. At least he would not have to explain his red eyes as he knew that they would have darkened to black.
“We’re here,” she said, gesturing to a slightly run down block of apartments. Though the building was in better repair than those surrounding it Aro found himself not enjoying the thought of her living there.
“Thank you for allowing me to escort you, Bella.”
She laughed, “You have an odd way of talking, I like it.”
“I am gratified,” he replied, smirking at just how ‘oddly’ he could speak if he chose.
The two stood in front of each other for a long moment, neither moving. Aro was about to reach out to take her hand when Bella made a low squeak in her throat. Too low for a human to hear, but of course Aro heard it clearly. She then took one purposeful step towards him and gripped the lapels of his carefully chosen coat and pulled him into a kiss. Her lips were warm like blood against his and he knew then that he would not be able to wait for the next night to feed, he would find another human.
“I’m sorry if you weren’t feeling what I was but I just had to know. Um, goodnight, Aro. If you ever want to see me again, you know where I live. I’m apartment 5,” with that, she was hurrying towards the building. Her heart beating a harsh rhythm that filled Aro’s ears. Every beat screamed: want blood, want you, want blood, want your lips. He shook his head, those were dangerous thoughts.
As he turned to find his next prey a sudden thought filled his head. He had heard nothing from her when she had kissed him.
“Perhaps you shall see me sooner than you think, young Bella,” he said to himself as he slunk back into the shadows.