Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

According to Sophie’s limited social experience, after helping Jane solve such a huge problem, the other girl should have broken into a radiant smile, thrown her arms around her in an enthusiastic hug, called her ”baby,” and loudly declared, ”love you.”

If they had been a little closer, Sophie would even have happily let Jane kiss her on the cheek, just like when Jane used to thank her younger brother by kissing Alec after he helped brush her hair.

But Jane was clearly unlike anyone Sophie had ever known.

There was no kiss, no hug, no ”baby,” no ”love you.” Even the sweet smile Jane habitually wore as a mask had vanished.

Jane’s expression turned grim, her confidence giving way to visible panic. She looked as though she wanted to ask what Sophie had done to her, yet her pride kept the words trapped behind her lips.

”Stay here. Don’t move!”

After spitting out the order viciously, Jane abandoned Sophie and ran off.

Jane was terrible at hiding her emotions. Every feeling she experienced was written plainly across her face, making her remarkably easy for Sophie to observe. Having lived apart from others for so long, Sophie had long since grown unfamiliar with reading people. Jane’s straightforward, transparent personality, just like her face, suited Sophie’s tastes perfectly.

The moment she noticed Jane’s distressed expression, Sophie hesitated over whether she should undo the removal of the painful memory. But that thread had been buried directly into Jane’s heart. No matter who it was, carrying something like that could never feel pleasant.

So Sophie hesitated.

Only for an instant.

Yet that single instant was enough for her to miss the opportunity to reverse it.

Jane drifted away like a passing breeze, her figure disappearing beyond the end of the corridor. The stone door at the entrance slid shut, cutting off all sight of her.

Sophie remained where she stood, dejected, still maintaining the posture of watching Jane leave. Once she was alone, the burning sensation in her throat made its presence known again, and pain spread throughout her entire body. The colorful sunlight before her eyes faded until everything around her became soaked in red.

She swallowed with difficulty, hoping to ease the agony, but it was completely useless. Even the nearly imperceptible warmth of sunlight against her skin felt as though it were adding to her suffering.

So she stepped sideways into the shade, pulled her cloak’s hood back over her head, and concealed herself within the darkness, silently enduring the increasingly maddening pain.

Sophie tried distracting herself with other thoughts. For instance, she had completely misjudged Jane’s reaction. If so, where had she learned to expect that kind of response?

There had once been someone who loved expressing gratitude loudly, who would throw open their arms to hug her, who constantly said ”baby” and ”love you.”

Who was that person?

There were only a handful of people and memories Sophie could currently recall, yet she could feel the memories she had crumpled into a tangled ball and discarded slowly recovering. Just as Jane had said, this ability was incredibly weak. Its effects on vampires were minimal.

At the end of the corridor, the stone door rumbled open.

Sophie’s attention was immediately drawn toward the sound. A trace of happiness surfaced within her.

Jane came back so quickly...

But she soon realized the person entering was much taller than Jane, and his clothing was an entirely different color. Even so, Sophie was certain he was another of Aro’s kind.

That realization instantly threw her thoughts into chaos.

Her mind went completely blank. The answer to What should I do? barely managed to write the first word before stopping.

From afar, the newcomer noticed the cloak Sophie was wearing and called out in confusion, ”Jane?”

Then, somehow, he instantly realized he’d mistaken her identity.

”Newborn! Why are you wearing Jane’s clothes? And how did you escape the dungeon?”

His voice was so hostile it sounded as though Sophie had murdered his entire family.

Moreover, this stranger was even faster than Alec and Jane. Every instinct in Sophie’s body screamed that he meant her harm, urging her to flee immediately.

Run!

Her body and mind reached complete agreement.

She instantly spun around and tried to bolt in the opposite direction, but he was simply too fast. Before she could even take a single step, her hood had already been ripped away.

Once he confirmed she was merely someone wearing Jane’s cloak, the attacker abandoned all restraint. Seizing the front of her cloak, he hurled her backward with brutal force.

Sophie instantly lost her balance and crashed onto her back.

The sudden ambush ignited her anger, awakening an overwhelming fighting spirit. Since her transformation, the combative instincts hidden deep within her had become exceptionally pronounced. In the past, Sophie had rarely even argued with people, much less fought them.

Yet now, without anyone teaching her, she instinctively wanted to fight back.

As she fell, she swung her arm wildly and slapped away the hand gripping her clothes. She put every ounce of strength she had into the strike, especially since the man towered over her.

She had only expected to interrupt his movement.

Instead...

It worked astonishingly well.

The force tugging at her clothes disappeared instantly, followed by a deafening crash.

Sophie landed flat on her back, while her attacker was sent flying into the wall, embedded deep within solid stone. Chunks of rock broke loose and tumbled across the floor, rolling to her feet.

She stared at her own hand in disbelief.

”Wow... I’m actually this good at fighting?”

Her desire to flee vanished completely.

All fear came from insufficient firepower.

Once your firepower was overwhelming, there was nothing left to fear.

Now that she was this strong, the one who ought to be running wasn’t her.

With that thought, Sophie quickly flipped back onto her feet and swaggered over to grab her attacker’s clothes.

The instant her fingertips touched the fabric, the man who had been groaning in pain while embedded in the wall vanished.

”Where did he go?”

The air behind her rippled ever so slightly.

Sophie hurriedly twisted aside just in time to avoid a hand that grasped at empty air.

He’s trying the same trick again!

Learning from the previous exchange, Sophie seized the empty hand instead. Following the direction of its momentum, she added even more force. With her incredible speed and strength, she executed a flawless shoulder throw.

The man was slammed into stone once again.

Only this time, instead of the wall, he ended up embedded deep within the flagstone floor.

For a brief moment, Sophie wondered whether her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Otherwise...

Why did it look as though his face had cracked into spiderweb-like fractures, just like the stone beneath him?

Still gripping his wrist, Sophie waited for his next move.

”I wasn’t planning to get serious, milady,” the man embedded in the stone remarked.

He’s worried about gentlemanly manners in the middle of a fight?

Sophie concluded that the man simply couldn’t beat her anymore, so he had resorted to intimidating her with empty threats.

His face and voice both seemed quite young, around twenty years old. His clothes had an extravagantly flashy lining, and if she paid attention, she could even smell an overly sweet fragrance of roses drifting from him.

Having successfully knocked him flying twice already, Sophie’s confidence in her own combat ability had reached an all-time high. She copied his tone and declared, ”Forget your gentlemanly manners. Come at me with everything you’ve got!”

”Very well. As you wish.”

The defeated man’s tone remained carefree, as though victory was only a thought away.

He’s putting on quite the performance, Sophie thought disdainfully.

Before the words had even finished echoing, the wrist she held twisted at an ingenious angle, forcing her grip open. In a single smooth motion, he reversed their positions, seized her forearm instead, and instantly turned defense into offense.

Sophie froze in shock.

This flamboyantly dressed man wasn’t all style.

He actually knew what he was doing.

Celebrating before the match is over really is a terrible idea... Judging people by appearances is even worse.

If he truly served Aro, then Jane had been right.

There were no mediocre fighters at Aro’s side.

In only a single instant, Sophie’s forearm was dislocated.

She cried out in pain, but before she could recover, the man grabbed her other uninjured arm and snapped it without the slightest mercy. Both arms were twisted behind her back, pinned securely with only one of his hands.

His feet didn’t remain idle either.

With perfect precision, he kicked the back of her knee.

Thud!

Sophie dropped heavily onto both knees.

The illusion that she was some kind of master disappeared without a trace.

She couldn’t remember ever experiencing a moment in her life more humiliating or miserable than this one.

A hand wrapped around her throat, gripping her lifeline.

This time, all four of her limbs were restrained. No matter how violently her instincts struggled, they were utterly useless.

Sophie decisively chose the only option left.

”Stop! Y-You can’t kill me!”

”Oh?” Her plea seemed to amuse the man behind her. The hand around her neck relaxed slightly as he asked leisurely, ”Milady, weren’t you the one who just gave me permission to abandon my gentlemanly manners and fight with my full strength? Are you taking it back already?”

Grinding her teeth, Sophie bluffed with all the confidence she could muster.

”If you dare hurt me, Jane won’t let you get away with it! Do you know Jane? She’s really, really powerful!”

”Oh? Is that so?” the man teased deliberately. ”Of course I know Jane is powerful. Everyone in Volterra knows that. But why exactly would Jane ’not let me off’ because of you? Just because you stole her clothes? That’s hardly enough for her to stand up for you.”

He paused dramatically before continuing.

”Well... I suppose there is one other possibility. Perhaps you’re actually Jane and Alec’s long-lost twin sister. No, wait... triplet sister! Hahahahaha!”

His laughter rang out with maddening arrogance.

The sturdy stone walls acted like an echo chamber, causing the sound to reverberate throughout the long corridor, amplifying his laughter until it drowned out even the sound of the stone door opening.

Tongue-tied, Sophie could only panic in silence.

She couldn’t beat him in a fight.

She couldn’t beat him in an argument either.

She couldn’t touch him with both hands restrained, leaving even her supernatural ability unusable.

Please come back...

Please hurry...

One second later, and you’ll be collecting my corpse!

”Demetri!”

”PAIN!”

The two voices rang out one after another.