Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

Behind the restricted sections of the Palazzo dei Priori, the mountains stretched endlessly into the distance.

Hidden valleys were scattered throughout the range.

Forests.

Open meadows.

Flowing streams.

Waterfalls.

Nature itself had created the perfect training grounds for the Volturi.

The newborn vampires they had recently subdued had finally been allowed to leave the lightless Black Room and see daylight once again.

Unfortunately for them...

The easy part of their lives had already ended.

Before becoming full-fledged guards, they still had to endure brutal training.

The basic instruction was handled by ordinary guards and rarely required Jane’s personal involvement.

She merely issued cold commands and occasionally used her burning gift to punish unruly newborns, forcing them into obedience.

The benefits extended beyond improving training efficiency.

More importantly, it carved fear deep into their minds.

Once they survived the newborn stage and officially joined the Volturi Guard, that fear would become lasting respect, reinforcing Jane’s authority.

Today’s training took place beside a mountain stream.

The gentle sound of flowing water concealed much of the newborns’ unpleasant roaring.

Jane wore an impeccably tailored black skirt suit.

Yet the drifting mist stubbornly dampened the hem of her clothes and the ends of her golden hair.

A droplet gathered among the strands before sliding slowly across her forehead and down her cheek.

Cold water often gave Jane the illusion that it could extinguish the eternal flames consuming her.

As though the memory of burning alive that tormented her every moment might finally disappear as well.

Of course...

It never did.

Unwilling to let the moisture soak her clothing any further, Jane leapt effortlessly onto a broad stone platform overlooking the valley.

The mountain wind swept past.

As it carried away the lingering moisture clinging to her body...

It also swept away the faint sense of restraint that had remained since yesterday.

Jane absurdly caught a familiar scent upon the wind.

That human girl...

She was leaving Volterra.

The only scent that had ever tempted Jane faded until it became almost impossible to detect.

Even amid the countless fragrances carried by the mountain breeze...

Jane found it astonishing that she had been able to distinguish a single human’s scent.

”I shouldn’t have let her go.”

Irritation welled up inside her.

Jane blamed the restless newborns.

Otherwise, that inexplicable loss of control would be nothing less than an insult to her unquestionable authority.

Still...

A tiny seed of doubt remained.

Yesterday, when she suddenly changed her mind...

Perhaps it hadn’t been Heidi’s gift influencing her after all.

Perhaps...

It had been that human.

The thought was laughable.

How could lowly prey possibly influence a noble vampire?

After returning to the training grounds, Jane randomly selected several unfortunate newborns and subjected them to her burning gift.

Watching them collapse to their knees and beg for mercy significantly improved her mood.

Turning toward one of the guards overseeing the newborns, she asked, ”When is Fabio coming back?”

The guard had already been holding his breath, terrified of attracting her attention.

Unfortunately, he had still been singled out.

He answered hurriedly, ”Fabio stayed behind to clean up the accident site. Once they’ve finished removing the wreckage this afternoon, he should return. His gift, Memory Compression, only works through direct physical contact. It’s rather troublesome.”

The man disguised as the human bus driver...

Fabio is like Heidi, a member of the Volturi.

Fabio handled transportation.

Heidi lured the prey into the dining hall.

After the newborns finished feeding and left behind nothing but corpses, Fabio drove the bus to a designated warehouse. The guards responsible for cleanup unloaded the bodies, even arranging them in the same order they had occupied while alive. Then, after nightfall, once the entire city had fallen silent, the bus would be driven through the mountain guardrail under Fabio’s watch before being burned until nothing remained.

Fabio’s gift of Memory Compression had one significant weakness.

Its effects faded with time.

The human brain naturally repaired itself, allowing compressed memories to gradually return to their original state.

Fortunately, humans were naturally forgetful.

In most cases, that limitation hardly mattered.

Against vampires, however, the effect was far less reliable.

Given the proper trigger, memories could quickly recover.

Although Aro regretted the severe limitations of Fabio’s gift, abilities related to memory were exceedingly rare.

The leaders had still welcomed him into the Volturi.

Even so, the Volturi relied far more heavily upon Chelsea, whose gift allowed her to alter emotional bonds and relationships.

Overall, Fabio’s cleanup work was remarkably effective.

Every human who encountered him had their memories compressed.

After shrinking those memories hundreds... even thousands of times...

The result was practically indistinguishable from forgetting altogether.

As an outer guard, Jane considered him more than satisfactory.

”When Fabio returns...” Jane said coolly, ”Tell him to collect the reward he’s earned.”

”Thank you for your generosity!”

Fabio had been standing outside the stone doors yesterday.

Jane suddenly realized...

The human girl she had allowed to leave had also been touched by Fabio’s gift.