Chapter 113: The red Flower at Sunset

The newborn vampires filling the cages before her had once been courteous human servants of the Volturi, dignified men and women who had willingly devoted themselves to the coven. 

Now, all that remained was an insatiable thirst for blood, reducing them to beasts that knew nothing beyond hunger. The oppressive silence between their occasional roars made the Black Room feel even heavier, a place where despair seeped into every stone and quietly swallowed anyone who lingered too long.

After venting enough of her frustration, Jane gradually adjusted the intensity of her gift according to her mood. Agonized screams, ragged howls, and every cry torn from those writhing under invisible flames became strangely soothing to her ears. Their suffering calmed the restless anger buried deep inside her chest, replacing it, if only briefly, with a cold and fragile peace.

The stone entrance to the Black Room slid open, and the soft squelching sound of blood bags bumping together instantly drew every vampire's attention. 

Red eyes snapped toward the doorway one after another, their instincts stirred by the scent of fresh blood, but Alec ignored the feral creatures confined behind the bars. Carrying the supply without hesitation, he walked straight toward Jane.

"Sister," he said gently, stopping before her chair, "it's time for you to eat."

With so many newborn vampires confined inside the Black Room, bringing in living humans would only provoke a feeding frenzy. For that reason, Jane had switched entirely to stored blood bags during her recovery. 

The icy expression she wore while torturing the prisoners softened the instant she looked at Alec. Her red eyes warmed with unmistakable affection for her twin brother, though the exhaustion and despair hidden beneath them remained impossible to erase completely.

Alec bent down, and as they always had, the twins exchanged a gentle kiss on each other's cheek. Jane accepted the blood bags he handed over and rested them across her lap, but today there were simply too many. 

Nearly half remained suspended in Alec's hand because she couldn't hold them all herself. She frowned in confusion and asked, "Why did you bring twice the usual amount?"

Standing quietly beside her chair, Alec took over watching the newborns. Thick black mist drifted from his hands, spreading cage by cage and numbing every prisoner it touched so their screaming would not disturb Jane while she fed. 

"The full moon is almost here," he explained calmly. "The moment Caius sends word that the Moonheart Grass has bloomed, I'm taking you straight to the research institute in London. I'd rather have you feed early than risk running out of time."

Jane let out a dismissive snort. "Alec... you've started entertaining childish fantasies." 

She remembered perfectly well what the old journal had recorded, that the Moonheart Grass bloomed during the full moon nearest Midsummer. But Caius, whose experience far surpassed the author's, had already warned her that blossoms appearing in July were far rarer than those in May. His journey to Britain had never truly been about hope. 

It was merely to confirm Sophie' discovery, and if the information proved accurate, Aro would acquire ownership of that land by whatever means necessary. Jane had long since abandoned any expectation that her injury would heal. 

Tilting her head, she teased, "Did someone start stocking fairy tales in the library recently?"

The sharper Jane's mood became, the sharper her tongue followed. Alec remained completely unfazed, simply continuing in the same patient voice. "Please drink two more bags, Sister." His tone never changed, warm as always, but there was an unmistakable firmness beneath it. He quietly supervised until Jane finished every last drop of blood he had brought.

"Alec..." Jane sighed after emptying the final blood bag. "You've been especially strange today." Her words carried complaint, yet deep down she accepted the care hidden behind his persistence. She drank every bag without wasting a single drop, despite feeling thoroughly overfed by the end.

Jane was no newborn vampire.

The amount of blood she had consumed today far exceeded her usual intake, leaving a faint sense of fullness she almost found unpleasant. 

How much of my Gift will I have to use before all this is burned away? she wondered silently, already calculating how intensely she would need to exercise her Gift just to consume the excess.

Only after confirming that Jane had taken in enough blood did Alec allow himself a small, satisfied smile.

"Sister," he said, "I recently heard about a setting from a fairy tale."

Jane casually tossed aside the empty blood bags and deadpanned, "I'm going to find whoever put fairy tales in the library and kill them. They've turned my little brother back into a child."

Alec laughed softly instead of denying it.

"The story mentioned a place called the Room of Requirement," he said. "In that magical world, if someone's desire is strong enough, the room grants whatever they seek."

Jane didn't even need him to say another name.

She immediately identified the only possible culprit.

Without missing a beat, Alec smiled and coaxed, "Sister... why don't you make a wish?"

Jane humored him with a weary smile.

"I wish the Volturi will remain great forever."

She played along solely because she didn't want to disappoint him.

Within the disciplined ranks of the Volturi Guard, no one would seriously believe in such childish fantasies. Only Sophie, with her reckless courage, boundless imagination, and fondness for fairy tales, would ever come up with something so absurd.

Then Jane looked straight at him and abandoned the pretense.

"So..." she said plainly, "are you finally going to tell me?"

"What ridiculous scheme did Sophie come up with this time... that you actually agreed to help her?"

Alec met her red eyes with complete seriousness.

Then, in a voice so earnest it sounded almost dreamlike, he answered,

"She said she thinks she found the Room of Requirement."

Jane blinked.

"Here?" she asked, pointing casually at the floor beneath them.

Alec slowly shook his head.

"Not the Black Room." He smiled. "So, Sister….you'll have to leave this place."

The instant the words left his mouth, Jane suddenly found herself lifted clean off the chair.

"Alec!"

She instinctively wrapped both arms around his neck in startled protest, but her cry accomplished nothing. Her younger brother's body had already matured into that of a young man, his arms strong enough to restrain every struggle she attempted. No matter how indignantly she glared at him, Alec simply carried her away without the slightest intention of setting her down.