Volterra
Athenodora left the next day for the royal court to re-introduce herself as the long lost Grecian princess. As she was leaving through the gates Aro and Marcus rode in, barring me from making some tearful, sincere, goodbye to her; I could never show that much emotion in front of Aro or Marcus. They had an extra horse with them, and I immediately knew we were traveling human style.
"Ready?" Aro asked, not dismounting his horse.
"Where to?" I asked, making sure we were actually going to Volterra. Aro took it for incompetence.
"Volterra, obviously." I sighed and went forward to mount the horse. I was glad it was a war horse, any other would have gotten too skittish around us. As we rode through town, we passed a man preaching to many followers.
"That's Jesus," Aro whispered to us.
"He has many disciples," Marcus added, "he preaches the 'Word of God', and promises salvation."
"But in public?" I asked genuinely surprised, "that goes against their very own rules!"
"Not if it's in their advantage," Marcus sighed, "He was probably sent by the leaders to look for humans showing potential as immortals."
"It's wrong, but it will be effective," Aro hissed, "even know he has a group of Twelve very devoted followers, willing to die for him." Aro glowered at one of the listeners to Jesus. "And the more public he gets, the harder it will be to kill him."
"Or," I smiled, "A public execution which would weaken them to exposure." It would make a big statement and more importantly, get a powerful player out of the picture
"If he is as popular as we make him out to be, then the government may have to get involved." Aro said. "Caius, you have a high position in government, right?"
"Yes," I nodded, "I'll see what I can do. But that's only one man, the other leaders of the Romanian coven…"
"They have one in total control, a king, if you will. His name is Octavious, and his wife Christine. There are three "advisors"; Vladimir, Stephan, and Piero." Aro said. "Vladimir and Stephan have mates, Danitela and Nicolette. From what I've heard, the three of them have quite a bit of authority."
"Piero has no mate?" I clarified; mates could be used.
"No," Aro chuckled, "he believes women are a weakness." I nodded because I partly understood that sentiment because of Aro and Marcus. They both had mates, Sulpicia and Didyme, and anytime the topic of them being weaknesses was refuted with their vehement arguing so it just wasn't worth it. I didn't have a mate, and didn't intend on getting one soon. I hadn't even had a wife in my human days, so nothing seemed too different. I decided to switch the topic before another mate vs. no mate discussion broke out.
"Tell me more about the twins you were watching,"
"Not this again," Marcus muttered quietly. Aro didn't hear him and began to give me a long, detailed, report on the two twins; Jane and Alec. He was worried though; their village had had a small harvest and their village had blamed it on superstitious reasons involving bad luck and a manifestation of witches in their village. The perfect blame? The two, antisocial, orphaned twins. The only way to "kill" a witch was burning at the stake; if Aro wanted to save them he would have to act soon.
The rest of the way we, well Aro and I, discussed plans. Marcus remained silent the entire time and I asked him why. He didn't answer, I wasn't sure if he even heard me. Aro then explained his ignorance simply.
"Oh, he's just thinking about Didyme."
"I thought you had to touch someone to know what they're thinking." I said. Aro glanced at me like I was quite stupid.
"Look at his face," he laughed. Hmm, that did explain things. I don't think Marcus would have noticed if there was a hole in front of him; it's like I could see Didyme in his eyes.
"I guess a woman really can drive a man crazy," I muttered.
"Are you referring to Marcus or your little friend back at your house?" Aro asked seriously, but I could already see the innuendos coming.
"Marcus, obviously," I scowled. Aro laughed but didn't say anything else. Aro had a mate, but he wasn't constantly thinking about her, at least, if he did, he didn't show it that much. I guess Marcus and Didyme had a stronger bond than most vampire couples.
"Eternity suits them," I accidentally said out loud.
"Yes, it does," Aro agreed. But there was something in his voice that made his words seem unconvincing. I pushed the suspicious thoughts out of my head; I was never one for sentimental or emotional reasoning so I let it go. Didyme was Aro's sister, of course he meant her no harm, I stopped trying to figure out what was strange about what Aro had said, it would get me nowhere.
Five minutes later, we rounded a bend and the palazzo was visible beyond the gates to our fair city. Marcus made his horse go at a gallop and when I looked up I found his motivation standing right in front of the large wooden double doors. She really was a pretty thing, and a smile grew on her face as Marcus came nearer. About 10 meters before reaching Didyme, Marcus jumped off his horse and landed right in front of her.
"Where's the most beautiful girl in the world?" he whispered to her. She giggled and they embraced. I looked away for the sake of their privacy and instead saw Sulpicia coming out of the castle. A small smile formed on the "face that launched a 1,000 ships" as Aro came closer.
"Paris," she waved to him. Only after he had dismounted properly did he go over to her and whisper, "Helen."
I felt sick from the whole overkill of love. And, since I was the only one not currently bonding with a mate at the moment, I had to go put the horses away at the stables. I grumbled a few profanities but otherwise proceeded to put away the horses.
"Gathering room in ten minutes!" Aro called out to me before disappearing inside the castle. I put away the horses and then went up to my room; it was such a relief to have peace of quiet. I had most of my possessions here rather than in Rome, or any other of the eight houses I currently owned.
I decided to change, the horse smell clinging to my clothes wasn't very appealing, and I wanted to make an impression on the newborns today. I opened up the large bureau that Sulpicia had installed in my room and found two types of robes: black, and black-er. Not that I was self conscious or anything, it's just that my hair and black did not go well together; it vaguely reminded me of an Oreo cookie. After changing, I decided to kill time by organizing my room and finally settled down to work on my star map I had begun a week ago.
Each one of us, my brothers and I, had different pastimes. Aro was obsessed with history, contrasts, and predicting how things would turn out. His favorite contrast was that of love and hate; he found it fascinating how easily one could turn into the other. Marcus, however, preferred medicine and the arts. His favorite subject to draw, paint, or sculpt was Didyme, and he did a good job of capturing different aspects of her in his work. But, that didn't leave me with a lot of options to specialize in, so I was the "nerd", studying astronomy mathematics and the like. Inventing things was also particularly enjoyable, as well as understanding the mechanics of the things that already existed. All three of us were involved enjoyed politics and had different government positions. I liked watching the economy and experimenting with different variables in different situations. It was close to Aro's study of contrasts, but applied to different circumstances.
I didn't get very far on my map before I realized that ten minutes had already passed. I swiftly made my way down to the meeting room and sat on one of the five plain chairs provided for us. Aro, Sulpicia, Marcus, and Didyme were already present, so my arrival commenced the proceedings. In addition to us, there were several other younger vampires that maintained a permanent residence with us; they had named themselves the Guard. Their names were Heidi, Alan, Faith, Dara, Santiago, Judas, Elzix, Akara, Meshif, and Rachael. Lastly, there were other talented vampires that had convened here to join the Guard.
Aro addressed our existing Guard with a floury speech of praise while Didyme used her talent to make everyone excited and happy to be here. After the rousing speech, Aro turned to the newborns.
"Friends," he smiled excitedly, "You have come from abroad to join our cause in fighting the unjust rule of the Romanian's. We thank you and commend you on your honor and bravery for this action. We need every single one of you to have the greatest chance at removing the Romanian's from power; all of you will be members of the Great Revolution." His voice had subtly changed from cheery to commanding, and he had everyone's full attention. He let the words sink in and in the silence, the newbies began to cheer. He waited for them to quiet down before continuing. "As such, if you could please demonstrate your talent so we can decide how you will be most beneficial for our cause." A ripple of anxiety ran through the crowd; they were excited to present to us…it disgusted me.
The first to present was a small, almost insignificant creature with a cascade of red hair with an almost visible aura of happiness.
"I'm Chelsea," she introduced herself to us.
"What can you do?" Aro almost cooed.
"I can strengthen or weaken bonds." She said and smiled.
"Oh wonderful!" Aro exulted, "Marcus, you can verify this, right?"
"Yes," Marcus nodded. It was quiet for a minute and then Marcus showed Aro whatever he saw with his talent and that obviously was enough evidence for Aro to believe Chelsea's talent. Marcus calmly took his hand back from Aro and instead put it on Didyme's who squeezed it slightly. The slightest smile grew on Marcus' lips before he went back to paying attention to the demonstrations.
"Chelsea," Aro said, "I'm sure your talent will be of great use to us."
"Thank you, Master," Aro beamed at being called "Master" and seemed to go off into his own "special" little world for several minutes before registering the new vampire standing before him.
"Name?" Aro asked.
"Demetri," the large male said smoothly. "I'm a tracker," he said proudly, and then more menacingly, "I can track anyone in the world as soon as I have the tenor of their minds."
"Interesting," Aro said pensively, "That would be rather hard to demonstrate.
"I'm sure he is a reliable source," I said. I didn't think there was someone stupid enough to lie right in front of us. "And with that, we can make sure there are no other survivors when we battle the Romanian's." I realized just how potent his talent could be.
"No counterattacks either," Marcus added.
"This is a useful talent. Demetri, I'm sure we can find a place for you within our ranks." I said. Demetri nodded and moved off to the side, and a lanky, but tall, young vampire took his place.
"I'm Corin," he mumbled.
"Speak up, boy!" I ordered; we didn't have time for shy incompetents.
"I'm Corin." The boy repeated much stronger. Aro gave me a "look" and then asked,
"And what is your gift, young one?"
"I can control fire," Corin said.
"Now this I must see," Aro said excitedly, "the uses…whole armies can be destroyed." Corin smiled and a small flickering flame appeared at the very tip of his finger.
"Oh yes," I said sarcastically. "We're going to wipe out whole Roman legions with that wildfire."
"I would show you the full extent of my power," Corin said slowly. As he spoke, the flame at the tip of his finger became a large, hovering flaming ball, with a twin in his other hand. "But then, you'd be a pile of ashes," He finished.
I opened my mouth to refute him, but Aro quieted me before I said anything.
"Caius," He sighed in his annoying condescending tone, "let's behave ourselves, there are guests present." I scowled, but remained silent; Aro might be annoying, but usually he had a good reason to be. "Now, Corin," Aro turned back to the waiting vampire, "I'm sure you're talent will be very useful during combat. Caius will find a place for you in our battle formations." Corin didn't look all too thrilled to have to be working with me, but since I was the military head of the Volturi, battle strategies and the like was under my jurisdiction.
It made me realize just how Marcus, Aro and I were able to work together and in the end, it was quite simple. Though we could all adequately fill in any job necessary, Aro was the best speaker and planner, I was the best strategist and fighter (though not by much), and Marcus was…the heart of everyone. Marcus I guessed was the reason that we all could coexist together without constantly bickering, though we had bouts of that at times. He was more emotional that Aro and I put together, it reminded me of why I was here in the first place. Sure, I could run an army well, but I had overheard Aro tell his sister once that he preferred me as an ally rather than an enemy. It was an interesting bit of information, but I didn't make to much out of it. It was best never to underestimate Aro or look to deeply or lightly into what he said; it's what made him a dangerous enemy and cautious ally.
But, back to the topic at hand, the next demonstrator to come forward was a huge blonde male named Afton.
"My talent is purely physical," he grinned, "I retain the strength of a newborn."
"How very useful!" Aro clapped. It would be interesting to train Afton, physical fighters were always so…cocky, but they were good at what they did.
The demonstrations began to become monotonous after that and I left. Aro's fetish for powerful talents disturbed me…well, everything about Aro disturbed me, but I ignored that. I slowly walked up to my room and reclined on one of the many couches in my room since I didn't have a bed.
Didyme and Sulpicia teased me incessantly about my single status. At one point, they would tell Heidi to fish for very beautiful women hoping that one would catch my eye. The only one that came to mind right now was the beautiful Athenodora that I had left back in Rome. Somehow, though I had barely gotten to know her, I missed her; if only she wasn't human…