NEON LIGHTS jane volturi

ONE

Fun was not the word Valerie would use as she woke up in a dark, wet room. Her body ached, her eyes refused to open, and her throat felt like it had ripped in two. She laid on the damp floor for a few moments, unable to force herself up. Her mind was racing, trying to remember where she was and how she got there. She moaned painfully when she finally came to. Pushing to her elbows and finally sitting up, she shielded her eyes as she stupidly tried to open them, immediately being blinded by the light at the end of the room.

"Welcome back to Earth sweet cheeks, let's get you a snack!" Hollered a deep voice. Before she would of yelled at the man for using that kind of nickname towards herself, or any woman for that matter. But right now, all Valerie could think about was how hungry she was.

That's when the poor soul landed in her lap. A bulky man, probably in his twenties stared up at her helplessly. His brown eyes met her dark crimson ones for only a second before she ravaged him. Grabbing his arms, she pulled his neck closer to her mouth before sinking her teeth in and sucking every last drop of blood from his body. His mouth opened like he was going to scream, but he was choking on his own blood before he got the chance. Valerie tore the man apart so violently she left a gaping hole where her mouth had been, any blood that would normally pool there had been consumed already. She let go of his corpse and let it drop to the ground.

She relished in the immediate relief she was given. She no longer felt like every cell in her body had been shattered and seared back together. She felt powerful, like nothing could ever hurt her again. Then she looked down at the broken man beside her.

No one would have to hurt her because Valerie truly didn't think anything in the world could ever begin to compare to the guilt she felt for murdering this innocent man. She reached her hand to cover her mouth in shock but recoiled when it touched something wet. Her eyes dropped down to her fingers that were now covered in blood. Blood that stained her mouth, her throat, her clothes, and now her hands. A sob fell from her lips. She just killed someone without even noticing, and worse she realized she would do it again and again.

Then she remembered her friend. Her friend that she dragged along with her to a party and into the biggest mess of their life. Her head whipped around, noticing the others. "Bree?" She called out. No one answered her, too engrossed in whatever sadistic game of cat and mouse they played as they each stalked their own prey. "Bree!" She yelled out, louder this time. Her mind ran through all the worse case scenarios of what had happened to her friend, all leading to one very likely conclusion- Bree Tanner was probably dead. Valerie let all the panic she had previously stored rush through her veins, turning in wild circles searching for the girl.

"Val!" A middle age woman dropped to the ground, behind her stood Valeries long-time friend, Bree Tanner, who was also covered in blood. Valerie noticed that she could now see Bree's bright red eyes even from where she sat.

"Bree?" She stumbled to her feet, clumsily running towards her younger friend.

They crashed together halfway, wrapping their arms around each other in a strangling hug. "God I was so scared! I thought that guy had left you, or worse brought you back here and ate you." She cried, stroking her friends hair lovingly.

"Valerie where are we?" Bree asked.

Valerie looked around fearfully, as if the question hadn't crossed her mind yet. It seemed like they were in some kind of warehouse or maybe a barn, but her foggy brain couldn't really remember what either of those looked like. Dark wood made up parts the walls, bits of light streaking through the cracks. The others avoided the light like it was poisonous. The rest was metal, the ceilings built high.

"Welcome back to life," a voice congratulated. Valeries head whipped around to meet the soulless eyes of her creator. Her own matching eyes widened in fear as flashes of the horrible night came back to her.

Her impressionable friend reluctantly giving into her pleads, arriving at Graham Johnson's house, heading outside with a drink and hand and a handsome stranger in tow, leaving her poor best friend to fend for herself. One minute her lips were on his and the next they were on her neck. God, she was a horrible friend. Valerie couldn't help the guilt that consumed her as she looked back at Bree. It was her fault she was here, her fault she was a monster. She would give anything to go back in time and just stay home with Bree, watching a dumb movie they'd both probably seen thousands of times.

Bree saw the horrible expression on Valeries face and shook her head. "It isn't your fault Val, and besides, Riley says it's a gift! We're stronger now, we're faster, we can do whatever we want."

"I just ate someone Bree!" She cried in frustration. Why couldn't she see what Valerie had done to her? To both of them?

"He was a bad person," She started. "Riley says they're bad people! All mean, horrible, evil people." Bree assured her, grabbing her arms to steady the shaking girl.

"Oh yeah? Well how does Riley know that?" She said his name like it disgusted her. "Why do you trust him so much? He did this to us!" She yelled, backing away from Bree.

"Exactly, Val. He did this to us and now no one can ever hurt us again." If Valerie Watson could cry, tears would be pooling in her eyes, ready to fall. But she couldn't, so she just stared at her friend with such sadness it could of caused Bree's heart to clench— that is, if it was still beating. In Valerie's eyes, that was just another reason to hate her new self. Her optimism had died with her body, leaving only a broken fraction of her former self. "We can be together now! We can live like sisters for eternity and no one can take that away from us now."

"Did you ever stop to think why he turned us?" A new wave of trepidation washed over Valerie, consuming her previous thought and leaving her wondering why? Why them? Why did he change them? Why did he change anyone here? Valerie knew right then, that she was being used—and she knew that whatever she was being used for, she wasn't going to like it.