This was written for the "Volturi fanfic contest" with the prompt word "red".

Author: Jaro-ship

Title: Knowledge of the Shadows

Characters: Chelsea, Afton, Carlisle

Genre: Romance, Friendship

Rating: T

Short Summary: Afton knew something was going between the two of them, but he didn't know what he would find when he followed her one day.

*Gah. I'm on the back end of a long writer's block. So this is my treatment for me.*

He knew. Of course he knew; that would be the reason he had been planning this. Ever since that vampire with the weird eyes showed up and decided to stay, she had been disappearing a lot more and sometimes even neglecting her duties. Aro knew. Caius knew. He was almost positive that Marcus knew. So why were they letting her get away with this?

Still, he had planned doing this today, and with good reason, too. He was curious. But didn't curiosity kill the cat, as his mother had always said? And besides, Aro would eventually know. Aro would eventually know everything in the world with that creepy power of his.

"You're wasting time, Afton," he muttered to himself and pushed up out of the chair by his window. Every Guard member had their own room, and sharing was prohibited. Everyone knew that Chelsea and Heidi shared a room, though. The wall was easily-

Afton cut his train of thought off since Aro knew that they shared a room, but not how they did. Besides, he didn't want to get beaten by Heidi - or worse, Chelsea, who would gladly throw her fist in his face yet again for breaking the rules. The fucking hypocrite.

He stuck his head out of the door and looked down the corridor both ways before slipping out. It was Sunday, and few ever came out of their rooms since it was the one day that they were "off from work."

Easily picking up her scent, he followed it until it mixed with someone else's. Carlisle was his name? Trying not to choke, Afton kept following the scent trails until it got unbelievably strong. Not an arm's length away did the hall turn left unto where the courtyard began. It was the very center of the castle, and, like its surroundings, the courtyard was entirely made of stone. He could see it in his mind's eye.

Stone benches dotted here and there. Corridors outlining it, rock walls on the right, repeating, open arches in the upper half on the left. Weeds sprung up between crevices in the stonework floor, and three steps in the middle of each wall lead down to the area like the courtyard was a ballroom.

Afton sighed involuntarily and edged along the wall until he reached the corner. He stuck his head around, and saw the passage filled with light and then plunged into darkness when the arches stopped and wall picked up again.

Murmured "sshh" noises made his ears prick up, followed by a tiny little laugh. Chelsea's. When he sighed this time, it was on the inside, and not because it escaped his lips unintentionally, but because it was for his broken heart. He had loved Chelsea the moment he laid eyes on her, but according to everyone else, she was as broken as a dropped china tea set, scattered into a million pieces, by not only losing some of her family, but also being forced into a marriage she had no control over. Apparently she had loved someone that her family turned down as a possible suitor because the family she had married into was a rival in some business and it was seen as a peace treaty and merger all at once. Demetri and Felix had been a part of that family, if he recalled correctly.

Shaking his head, he tried to ignore the pain in his chest - nonexistent, for his heart didn't beat anymore, and pain was only felt when Jane was upset with you - and slipped into the area ahead of him, hiding in the shadow of the stone statute of someone fallen from the ranks. They were spotted throughout the castle, a constant reminder of what could happen to you.

His heart plummeted. Afton cursed himself silently. He should have prepared himself for it, but he reckoned that it would never be enough for what his eyes laid on.

It was innocent enough - Chelsea and (he was pretty sure now, seeing the man's face) Carlisle were talking. He was on the ground, leaning against a wall, while Chelsea was lying on the bench propped up by her elbows, the skirt of her dress sprawled to cover both side of the bench. It was completely unladylike, in Afton's opinion, but then again, having grown up in England (despite his entire family being Venetian), he was still learning the customs of Volturi - which happened to be the exact same customs one would find outside of the castle, and even Volterra. He was unsure if it was appropriate, but he knew she would only allow herself to relax like that in private.

He caught himself tracing her body with his eyes, something he would most likely get cuffed for, should anyone ever know. Aro would know. Dammit.

But her face was when he allowed himself to stare. It was a sign that she was relaxed and off duty. A smile decorated her face, instead of the usual apathetic face he was sure Marcus had taught her or the smirk that tugged one corner of her mouth upward horribly. Had her heart still beaten, he was positive that her checks would have been lit up, as were her eyes now. The constant dullness of her eyes had evaporated - they were lit up like London at night on New Year's. The dull crimson was now a mouth-watering red. Afton was free from doubt that the image of her eyes would be imprinted in his memory forever, lest he never get the chance to seem them again.

An hour passed with them talking quietly about different subjects and his watching them; or was it several hours? He had no way of knowing, as time seemed to blur together lately, something that Afton assumed Aro wanted them to feel. He shook my head at the thought.

Afton unconsciously shifted his feet, causing the statue he was behind to move ever so slightly. Chelsea's head snapped up, causing the sentence she was saying to break off. He tried to move farther into its shadows. Her eyes turned furious - something Afton had only seen happen twice before. The red in them suddenly looked like blood.

She came up next to me. "I'll deal with you later. Go back to your room. I do not want to see you out of it for the next week, and I will be checking in with Aro. Understood?" Chelsea growled. He nodded meekly. "Go."

As he turned away, those red eyes Afton promised myself he would forever remember were screaming at him. Screaming that he didn't know what he was doing. That he didn't understand what he was getting myself into. That it hurt her to do what she had to do.

Afton loved her; he would not admit that until later. He could, however, admit now that he didn't think she realized her stone-wall facade was something he could easily read through.

I saw red as I stormed back to my room in a huff.