Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

At last, the hesitant hand resting against her back settled into place, gently soothing the trembling body wrapped in layers of fear and unspoken anxiety. The red-and-black black opal choker Jane had personally fastened around Sophie's neck pressed lightly against Jane's own shoulder as they embraced. 

During the endless centuries since becoming a vampire, Jane had always been the one who inflicted fear upon others. Torture, interrogation, and execution had become the rhythm of her immortal life, leaving her utterly unfamiliar with something as gentle as comforting another person.

The embrace felt completely different from those she shared with Alec or Aro. Softer. Smaller. Feminine. Jane awkwardly searched for words of praise and finally managed, "You're quite valuable." She swallowed the rest of the sentence before it escaped her lips. 

There aren't many in all of the Volturi bold enough to tear Caius's clothes apart. 

Better not say that. She didn't want Sophie to misunderstand and continue provoking Caius in the future. If Sophie was to earn a place among the guard, she would first have to learn obedience, respect the Volturi's laws, and submit to the authority of its leaders.

Once the initial rush of excitement faded, Sophie suddenly realized how intimate their current position had become. In her panic, she had actually hugged Jane. And Jane, astonishingly, had tolerated it without even using her gift. Mortified, Sophie hurriedly loosened her arms and stepped back to where she had been standing before. "I'm sorry. I overstepped."

The empty blood bags had toppled onto the carpet. Fortunately, Sophie had drained every last drop from them. If even a little blood had soaked into the fine wool rug, cleaning it would have been a nightmare. She bent over to gather them. "I'll throw these away."

"No need." Jane shook her head. "The maids will clean everything up."

Sophie noticed the obvious wrinkles she'd pressed into Jane's immaculate dress and felt she owed an explanation for her outburst. "I never even dared dream of something this wonderful. A room entirely to myself... Soft carpets covering the floor, a huge window with such an open view outside, and a place where I can sit beside you and feel the wind..." 

To Jane, it was nothing more than an ordinary room, something so insignificant that it barely registered against the immeasurable wealth of the Volturi. Yet from Sophie's lips, it sounded like nothing short of a miracle. Jane neither stopped her from drawing close nor pushed her away afterward. There was no ridicule in her eyes. Sophie's exaggerated amazement, born purely from having seen so little of the world, only made her seem sincerely adorable.

Almost without thinking, Jane asked, "Then... what did you dream about in those timid little dreams of yours?"

Sophie answered with complete seriousness. "I dreamed about you."

The unexpected reply caught Jane completely off guard.

She had already investigated the circumstances surrounding Sophie's death. The day after they first met, Sophie had left Volterra by car, only to die shortly afterward beside a nearby highway. 

In a cheap inn somewhere outside the city, Sophie had dreamed the final dream of her human life. In that dream... she had dreamed of Jane.

A strange discomfort settled in Jane's chest. "That's... unfortunate." She couldn't quite explain why those words bothered her so much, only that something felt wrong. More than anything, she wanted to end this conversation before it wandered any deeper into unfamiliar territory.

Oblivious to Jane's reaction, Sophie continued talking happily about the room instead. "After I turned ten, I was constantly sent to stay at my parents' friends' houses. They only let me into the guest room at night to sleep. During the day I had to stay outside. Later, when I went to boarding school, the dormitories were locked every morning after classes started, so every single day I had to search for somewhere, anywhere, where I could be alone."

Subjects like parents and school belonged to an era utterly beyond Jane's understanding. She had become an orphan over a thousand years ago, long before such things existed in her life, and she had never attended a school of any kind. Under Aro's influence, however, the Volturi held profound respect for both art and science. 

Jane herself possessed exceptional artistic taste. Aro had personally taught both her and Alec how to invest in works of art, from sculpture and paintings to fashion and jewelry design, and those pursuits had become one of the family's primary sources of wealth. Even the choker now clasped around Sophie's neck was one of Jane's own creations.

From the perspective of a vampire, Jane patiently explained, "Our kind has an extremely strong sense of territory. Personal space is almost always exclusive. There's only one exception."

Sophie tilted her head. "Blood relatives?"

"Not even family." Jane shook her head. "Vampires can't have children, so blood relatives are incredibly rare. The day at the waterfall, Alec threw a pebble to announce himself because he couldn't enter my territory without permission."

She was referring to the day they had sunk together beneath the water, when Alec's pebble had splashed into the pool and broken the silence.

"What?" Sophie stared in disbelief. Her complete ignorance of vampire customs had caused a spectacular misunderstanding. "I-I thought he was about to rush in and see me looking like that, so I..."

Jane's beautiful brows knit together as realization finally dawned. She found herself completely speechless. "So that's why you foolishly jumped into the water and made me walk over to Alec soaking wet." She sighed. "He even laughed at me, asking whether I'd forgotten that people are supposed to take their clothes off before bathing."

Before the awkward silence could settle too deeply between them, Sophie hurriedly changed the subject. "Then... what relationship is even more special than family?"

Jane followed her lead. "A mate. To put it simply, something similar to human lovers or married couples. But among vampires, a mating bond is far more sacred."

"Lovers and marriage are social relationships," Sophie mused. "People usually do it for companionship or to have children. Lovers can break up, married couples can divorce. Aside from making vows in a church, there's nothing especially sacred about it." She blinked in confusion. "Vampires don't even need children, so do you still date first and then get married?" After a brief pause, she added solemnly, "I admit life itself is sacred."

Jane had little firsthand knowledge of such matters. By the time she had been transformed, the leaders had already found their respective mates, so everything she knew came from scattered stories pieced together over centuries. 

“A mate is more important than life itself," she answered slowly. They were speaking about entirely different meanings of life, but neither of them noticed. "The pain of losing a mate is greater than the pain of death. A vampire's stagnant existence begins to flow again only after meeting the one destined for them."

Sophie's eyes widened with understanding. "So... it's love." She smiled. "Like the kind Yeats wrote about. If Michael, leader of God's host. When Heaven and Hell are met, looked down on you from Heaven’s door-post. He would his deeds forget."

"The Archangel Michael would never favor a vampire living in Hell," Jane replied bluntly.

Sophie merely laughed. "I still think having a room of my own is more important than romance."

Jane couldn't help smiling faintly. "Satisfied with just one room? Could your ambitions possibly get any smaller?" 

In truth, she pitied Sophie a little. She was so incredibly easy to satisfy. As for Sophie's romantic view of destined love, Jane neither agreed nor disagreed. She and Alec had depended upon each other for over a thousand years and had never once felt that a mate was something essential. They had each other, they had their beloved master, and they belonged to the greatest coven in the world. Jane had always been content with everything she already possessed.

"I do have one tiny ambition left," Sophie whispered as she leaned closer. "I'd like to retrieve the tablet I left at the hotel reception."

Jane had previously forbidden electronic devices from entering the underground palace. 

But... the mountains outside the palace should be fine, Sophie reasoned guiltily. 

During the conversation, she had quietly noticed one small but important detail. A guard's territory wasn't limited to an underground room. It could extend across entire areas. Jane, for example, possessed an entire waterfall and had even built herself a private bathing pool there. Sophie's phone had been destroyed when she fell off the cliff.

She couldn't leave to buy another one, so her only hope lay with the tablet. It contained the account information she had never backed up elsewhere. She had to get it back. Her online accounts, the friends and family she'd left behind, every trace of the life she once live, they all remained inside that single device.

"No."

Jane's attitude, which had been remarkably gentle moments ago, hardened without warning. Her scarlet eyes turned cold as she rejected the request outright. "You must abandon your identity as a human."

"But..."

"I forgot to tell you." Jane interrupted her calmly. "'Sophie Luca's' death certificate is already being expedited."

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