This is dedicated to RaindropSoup, who is an amazing writer as well as an awesomesauce lady in general. She works unbelievably hard, and she is always there when I need her. Love ya, ducks.

You're a prick with a pin, woman,
Push it into my skin, girl.
I'm a prick when I sin,

And I know I can't win…

–I Cut Like a Buffalo, The Dead Weather

Bella

I'd never really celebrated New Year before, well, at least not in the style that Aro wanted to celebrate it.

He wanted golds and reds, and a ball to be remembered for eternity. He wanted not just a celebration, but a gathering to remember the ones we had lost and what had been returned to us. He also wanted another remembrance: for those we had defeated, Victor, Stefan, and Edward included.

It took me a while to wear him down from a grand ball, to which all clans were invited, to a Volturi-only event. He agreed with me, eventually, that the larger events had not worked out very well for us in recent times.

It had been then, as I sat with Aro at his desk discussing options, that Caius had knocked and entered to remind me of a simple promise we had made, to Giovanni.

It had given me an idea.

With help, mainly from the enthusiastic Felix and the eager Emmett, the ancient church had been restored by Christmas Eve, ready for our New Year's celebrations. Giovanni had cried upon completion.

Sulpicia and Viorica had decorated early, dangling golden stars from the rafters and pinning wonderful silk and velvet banners around the inner columns. The pews were removed and put away, replaced by dark red carpeting, and the stained glass windows were all fully restored and repainted in bright colours.

It was so beautiful.

Giovanni had been allowed to see the progress made, though not continuously, and he understood he could not attend the actual event, though the reason remained obscure to him. He was ignorant of our true nature, simply thrilled to see his chapel prosper once more.

Christmas had passed beautifully, with Caius continuously talking of our upcoming trip to Paris in the summer. I had bought him the tickets for his present, the Musée du Louvre in mind. He had then planned out a tour of France, calling in favours to procure country houses and town apartments. I was so excited.

He had given me something infinitely better.

Aro had told me that Caius was getting me my own motorbike, after borrowing Demetri's so often, but it had turned out to be a distraction to keep me from finding his true present.

It had been…more than a surprise.

In bed late one night, weeks before Christmas, we had talked about growing up and our childhoods. I had told him I once had a dog, but Renée had sold it the first time I went to Charlie's for the summer because she didn't want to have to look after it every time I left.

I had never – never – thought Caius would try to right that wrong.

On Christmas Day, I had opened the hatch to our tower to find Caius on the loveseat with a Dalmatian pup at his feet, a small white ribbon tied in bow on its collar as it slept on a pile of ripped black cotton.

He had nonchalantly kept turning the pages of his newspaper. "It's already torn up my shirt. I expect yours will be next. Merry Christmas."

Caius had been very pleased that night.

He'd apparently chosen the puppy because it was the only one to come near him when he visited the brood, the rest of the litter whining and scrambling clear, and as soon as the pup was up and running around once more I knew it, he, was perfect.

He was unafraid, scared of no one and nothing, and he was the cheekiest son of a bitch alive. No one's rooms were safe while he was around and they weren't, and once he had been properly introduced to me, he played out some of my best pranks.

The castle had become relatively lazy in the holidays, and Loki – as he was dubbed by Aro in a fit, yelling 'that Loki-like trickster mutt!' – kept them on their toes.

He had been banned from the celebrations by Aro, and he was to be looked after by Viorica, who Loki seemed to like most, second only to Caius and myself, and who wasn't keen on attending the party. I knew Jane was only going to stay for a few moments herself.

New Year's Eve was quiet, the day slowly leading up to the night, and as soon as the sun had set on the cool horizon the castle erupted into a flurry of activity all leading to the church on the private road out of Volterra.

I took Demetri's bike, Caius on the back. It had certainly been an experience, what with Caius unable to keep his hands from roaming my hips and Demetri watching his baby worriedly from the passenger side window of Alec's car.

We arrived at the church in a near-parade, finding the place empty and just how it had been left the day before.

Emmett had installed a sound system, and the first CD to go on was a collection of hits from the 40s, all perfect dancing tunes.

The night was danced away eagerly, the healed Sulpicia twirling with Aro as I whirled with Caius, the rest of the Guard filling in around us in partners. Gianna made her debut as a newborn, taking to the floor with Felix as her first and, subsequently, only partner.

Their secret smiles were not difficult to read.

And when the clock mounted to the wall chimed the hour, kissing broke out with cheers for the New Year between.

Gianna and I took a turn, Caius following eagerly afterwards with a seductive look in his eye.

"Are you tired of dancing yet, Isabella?" He asked me softly, barely above a hum.

I resisted a shiver. "I could be persuaded…"

"The castle is currently mostly unoccupied–"

"We're going, Aro!"

We walked home through the forest, leaving Demetri to take his precious motorbike back at his leisure. The sky was beautiful and clear, not an inch of cloud in sight, and Caius looked beautiful in starlight.

He whispered he loved me as we passed into the town, weaving through the littered post-celebration streets under the black moon and taking the tourist entrance to the castle.

I undressed him as we took the corridor to our room, unzipping my dress for him once he was down to his unbuckled pants.

We were both in disarray when we stumbled into our room, kissing, to find Viorica and Loki waiting for us.

She turned away with something of a squeak. "I apologise!"

Caius swore as he threw his shirt back on and buttoned his pants back up, before sliding my zip back to the top of my dress.

I turned to Viorica, eyebrows raised and arms full after Loki had bounded towards me. "I thought you were keeping him in your and Jane's room."

"I-I was," she stuttered.

"What is it?"

She pointed to a box out on the balcony, where it was sitting on the elegant stone table Aro had given us as a Christmas present. Caius was already standing at it, and I joined him slowly, aware of Loki snuggling down in my cool arms.

"Caius?"

I took in a breath, Viorica joining me at my side, and frowned. "I don't recognise the scent, but I know there is one. A woman. And…"

"Vladimir," Caius intoned.

I looked up at him, finding his expression serious and his eyes focused solely on the perfectly square, white box.

I looked at it more closely. "Is it made out of plastic?"

Viorica decided to then speak up. "He left it here an hour ago. He told me to wait for you, to give it to you."

I looked to her. "Who did?"

Her eyes were truthful. "The one who bit me. I came in here to find Loki's toys and he was on the balcony. He asked me to forgive him, to let him atone and then go to find his mate."

"But she's dead," I told her. "Stefan told us everything before he was executed. Vladimir wanted to avenge the death of his mate by destroying Victor."

She shrugged delicately. "He told me that it was a present, the box, for the two of you, and then he left."

Caius was not pleased. "He could have killed you, Viorica. This could be some kind of device to damage us. It was reckless not to alert us immediately."

Viorica bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Master, Mistress. I had no way of getting to you other than running, and I had Loki to look after."

"We need cell phones," I told Caius seriously, before flipping the lid of the box without wasting another second.

Inside was an abundance of red, curls and curls of it, all so auburn, fiery, and familiar.

"Is that," Viorica breathed, "a head?"

I peered into the box, Loki warm and asleep in my arms. "Yes."

Victoria's dead black eyes gazed unseeingly up at me, her sloping nose leading down to her closed mouth covered in dry, days-old blood, and just beneath her chin was a ragged line of torn flesh where her neck should have been. Her head sat in a pool silver-grey venom. The inside of the box was lined with vampire-proof metal.

Her nose twitched.

"Who is she?" Caius asked, and I answered him with a single syllable.

"Her."

He went quiet, peering at her face with me. Viorica turned extremely uneasy. I knew she didn't like the sight of venom.

"Go, Viorica. Jane will be back soon."

She went without a word.

"So, this is the one that tried to kill you?" Caius asked me after a few moments of silence.

"On more than a one occasion," I added.

"I should try to track Vladimir," he said half-heartedly, making my lips quirk in a smile.

"Except he's left us such a wonderful gift," I told him.

Caius looked torn. "He tried to destroy so much, Isabella."

"Yes." I nodded. "But under pressure from Stefan and in grief from the loss of his mate."

"You told me Victoria hunted you because of the death of her mate. How is it any different? Should he then be beheaded?"

"She was sadistic and insane. She tried to torture Edward with threats of my pain and death." I gave him a serious look as I reached into the box, pulling out a piece of tattered parchment-like paper from behind Victoria's many curls. "She was still on the hunt at your borders. See? She would have come for me. Vladimir did us a favour."

Caius curled his lip at the inked note. "He's denied me the pleasure of killing her myself."

I smiled. "But he's left you the cherry."

We looked down at the head, and Caius murmured, "So he has."

The matches were fetched from the mantle over the fireplace and I let Caius have the honour of throwing a lit one into the white box while I soothed the restless Loki by scratching behind his ears.

Her head went up in a shot of light and flames, her curls fizzling out into nothing and her flesh screaming purple smoke.

"And, anyway," I said, gently hoisting up Loki higher in my arms as I turned to go inside, "He's already served himself his own punishment."

I nodded Caius' creased brow toward the horizon, where a funnelling of purplish smoke was rising from a hillock in the forest.

I kissed him on the jaw. "Happy New Year, Caius."

He grumbled as I went inside to put Loki in his basket and dress in something more comfortable than the party dress I had on.

"Why is there always so much trouble?" He groused, following me.

I smirked, dropping my dress. "Nothing good comes for free."