Chapter two
MPOV
Yet another day where I must sit here listening to the pathetic and insignificant woes of vampires visiting Volterra. The only thing of even passable interest is that Caius should be returning soon and so Athenodora is excitedly pacing in the conservatory just beside the throne room. It is nice to see someone have a completely pure source of joy.
Aro is humming and haaing to the worthless vampire in front of us as though he is actually contemplating helping him. I close my eyes and try and drown the entire thing out. I do not particularly care one way or another that my brother enjoys playing head games with the common vampires that come to us, but I dislike having to listen to it when he says such similar things over and over again.
Finally the scum is disposed of (it really was his own fault that caused that other coven to move into the territory he inhabited), and Aro calls asking Sulpicia and Athenodora to come join us. The majority of the guard relax minutely and I can hear Heidi sweeping up the ashes of the former annoyance followed by the footfalls of the approaching wives. Sulpicia goes to sit on Aro's lap, her footfalls slightly further apart than Athenodora's due to her longer legs and there is a similar rustle of fabric as Athenodora sits upon Caius' throne.
It is Athenodora who finally breaks the near silence of Aro and Sulpicia kissing (of which they are wont to do whenever they are together for any uninterrupted period of time) by asking the question I knew would come up sooner or later, and therefore did not actually need to voice myself.
"Aro, did you have something to inform us about? Why is it that Caius is returning so soon? The meetings in the Americas were supposed to continue into next week were they not?" she asks. I can almost hear the questioning stare and slight censure that is surely upon her face. Athenodora may word things pleasantly and appear flighty or uninformed but she knows Caius' schedule better than he himself. She is also one of the few to be able to speak to Aro thusly without consequences. Aro, in standard fashion ignores any hidden meanings to her tone and answers her brightly "Quite right, Athenodora, however, I received a call from Afton just this morning and was informed that something had come up and interfered with our plans and so they were returning to Volterra forthwith. Caius had Afton convey that my presence would be necessary and that the matter may be time sensitive so of course I agreed and asked Afton to send along my condolences to Caius about the ruination of his plans. You my dear, are all too familiar with how unsettled poor Caius gets when things do not go his way."
Though outwardly I made no sign of it, I mentally perked up at that statement. Aro had a way of layering information within information behind the guise of whimsy and a carefree cheerful tone that made people underestimate him. After centuries of practice the entire family, and a good portion of the guard, became adept at deciphering his words to get to the heart of the matter. The point of fact for this is that Caius does not change his plans for anything short of unmitigated disaster. That he himself was coming back with the guard and not merely moving them about like chess pieces to forcefully put things back in place for his plans to go through, was significant. In addition to this, that Caius was so vague in his message, or that of Aro in his retelling of it, meant that the matter could have great impact on us as a family and needed to have any information pertaining to it kept as low key as was possible in a castle full of super-hearing vampires. It also likely means that this was either large enough that Caius couldn't deal with the matter on his own, or is something he had not experienced before in his long life and therefore needed to regroup so to speak and confer with us.
One of the many things about the Volturi most do not know is that the reason we have succeeded in holding power for so long is that there are no secrets between the three of us. Where one is weak the other two are strong and vise versa. It often appears to bystanders or even those within the lower guard that both Aro and Caius have their own agendas and plots completely unknown to the other two thirds of our power base. It also often appears as though Aro is the one really running the show as it were. The fact of the matter is that that is simply not true.
Of course in the past we have had differing directions or aims we have wanted to complete, but secrets on a political front become lies and conflict. If we risk fighting amongst ourselves we are open to attack from our numerous enemies.
The Volturi have been successful because we have kept the main hold of power within the three of us and by extension to a lesser degree our wives. Aro is the best at taking others off-guard, and with his gift and charismatic personality he works best at being our spokesperson. We've developed layers of defenses and ruses over the long years to make us appear as something less outwardly manipulative and knowledgeable than we actually are. If only the three of us know of something, then a spy in our court will never achieve anything of use against us.
Athenodora's voice has dropped slightly in worry after Aro's statement. "They have not been attacked, have they Aro?" she questions, worried for her mate. I can hear Sulpicia grab the other woman's hand in comfort as Aro angles himself towards his sister-in-law.
"Of course not, darling," he quickly reassures knowing that Athenodora's worry for Caius would overpower any rational thought in her mind. "Caius would have been complaining to me himself if that were the case. We shall know more when he finally arrives, it should not be long now."
Indeed it's not much later that I can start to hear the commotion of Caius' return. He's growling and snapping about as usual before he finally enters through the main doors. Finally opening my eyes I watch with no small amount of envy as he immediately greets Athenodora, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her soundly before she could do much more than stand and step in his direction.
There is still worry etched on Athenodora's face when they pull apart a minute or so later and he caresses her cheek before huffing in a disgruntled fashion. "I am fine Beloved, just aggravated," he assures her before stalking to his throne and throwing himself into it. Athenodora follows him hitching one hip on the arm of his chair.
"Are you going to keep us in suspense, brother?" Aro asks after a moment pulling a reluctant Caius' attention away from the lock of Athenodora's hair he'd been fingering. Caius sighs as though the weight of the world rests on his shoulders before turning towards us. He then quickly summarizes the situation. The business meeting, the strange girl that knows our kind with the broken mind, the mention of newborns and her scar. How Jane's power does not affect her. To say it is a whirlwind of information in a unique context would be an understatement. We haven't had anything as intriguing as this since Caius' work to end the Children of the Moon a couple centuries ago. Aro looks almost giddy with excitement.
"Let me see Caius," he pretty much demands flinging a hand towards my brother. Then he pauses and retracts his hand "No, nevermind, I want to meet the girl first and form my own first impressions. Where is she? Where have you stashed her brother?" he questions, almost bouncing in his enthusiasm. There was nothing Aro liked more than a mystery and this girl was providing him with a large one thus far. Not to mention that she seemed to have thrown Caius for a loop which was easier said than done.
Caius looks at Aro with exasperation, seemingly emotionally tired already of so much excitement and fuss. "I had the twins set her up in the human quarters beside the new secretary- Gianna or whatever her name is. We'll send someone to fetch the three of them."
Good to his word one of the guards slips out of the hall to inform the twins their presence is required. The joys of initiative, we lords don't even have to say anything. It's as though our words and directives are meaningless breathes of air meant to merely take up time. Oh wait, they are.
The other members of the team that Caius took with him to the Americas start to trickle in and join the rest of the guard. My face maintains my look of utter and complete boredom as I watch Athenodora and Caius quietly interact again. They aren't nearly as blatant as Aro and Sulpicia but there is a quiet affection between them that is soothing to witness.
I sink into my bond-sight for a moment, just enjoying the glow of their fully formed and healthy mating bond. The gold encompasses their bodies completely merging seamlessly together where they overlap like a living entity. It softly moves in currents between the two of them flickers of white, and other colours with their assortment of meanings moving in greeting from one vampire to the other. Aro's and Sulpicia's bond is similar in intensity, but like all bonds has slight differences. The point of the matter is though that both of my brothers are extremely blessed to be able to have such good matches for mates. My bond to Didyme, may she rest in peace, was not half as intense as either of my siblings and I have mourned her for over a millennia now.
In my perusal of Caius something catches my eye and I shift slightly to get a closer look. Blocking out the glow of their mating bond I start to look over his other bonds, realizing something is amiss from when the last time I witnessed them. Slowly so as to not bypass anything of importance I categorize each of his existing relationships. Most are ambiguous at best for Caius cares little for people outside the family but even a neutral or negative relationship is still a relationship. It takes time but eventually I seem to find the inconsistency. It is a small bond- fragile and thin as though made from the wispiest of spider webs. At times it seems to not even exist as though it is only present at slight angles like an illusion. It doesn't seem to have any precise colour indicating exactly what sort of bond that it is, but I can tell it is not a negative one. I decide since it does not seem to be doing him any harm to leave the matter be for now, but stocking up some questions for Caius later. I am actually curious to find where this relationship has sprung from, and to whom.
I can hear the light quick footsteps of the twins and the soft wet thudding of a human heart approach the main entrance to the room before they enter. Jane of course throws both doors wide with more pomp and circumstance than is needed, and I close my eyes in resigned disgust. Sometimes that little girl is more trouble than she's worth.
The smell of the human takes my notice next and I draw in a full breath of her scent analyzing it. She smells sweet like fruit and flowers with a clean hint that reminds me of the Mediterranean Sea in the summers of my youth. It is finally Aro's voice that brings me from my contemplations, as he is teasing Caius, much to my other brother's annoyance.
"Caius, I know we have discussed this in the past, but I feel I must remind you. If you feel the need to play with humans you must be gentle else they'll break! Look at the rough shape the poor girl is in. Tsk tsk," he scolds playfully. Caius merely grunts at him and I open my eyes once more to see him scowling at Aro.
Finally I turn to see the girl that has caused such commotion and when my eyes land upon her my entire world freezes. Aro's welcoming speech to her fades so that though I may be processing his words on some level it is merely an annoyance.
The girl before me is a small thing, much too thin and though around average height for a woman of her age possibly 5'5, I know she would seem quite small compared to my own height. She looks to be in her late teens, early twenties and her skin is so pale you can see the veins clearly through her skin. Her hair lays in lumped tangles around her head but it is long and the colour of mahogany. I can make out individual strands of caramel, auburn, even black which offsets her fair complexion well. She has long legs and from what I can see beneath her tattered clothing curves though not voluptuous by any means. The thing that grabs me though is her eyes. Chocolate brown and huge, rimmed with long lashes; there is a deep-set loneliness and pain within them as though she had seen far too much and lived far too little for her scant years.
The instant she meets my eyes I could literally see and feel our bond form, it rushes outward from my chest in a golden iridescent wave to meet the most tentative tendril of pearl extending from her own torso. As I watch I notice that her side of the bond has to struggle to breakthrough the ripped and savaged bonds she already holds. The intensity of despair from those ravaged bonds is on par of which I have only witnessed in centuries old vampires or from humans in the thick of war.
I stand up to approach her, brushing my fingers against Aro's as I pass by. After so many years ruling together such gestures happen naturally, which in most cases is highly beneficial as we need no thought to accomplish the communication between us- here those many years serve their purpose as my mind most certainly is not on Aro at the moment. In the periphery I see Aro start his mouth parted slightly in surprise for a second, it appears I've interrupted his speech. He'll accommodate.
The girl seems even more frightened if that were possible as I get slowly closer, the trembles shaking her form increasing though she held herself stiff in an attempt to control them. Unwilling to scare her further I do something that causes every vampire in the room to gasp in surprise or stare incredulously. I drop to one knee before her just as our bonds touch and seemingly connect, weaving around one another before entwining completely.
And for the first time in over one thousand years, I feel hope.
BPOV
One of the Volturi Lords has just knelt before me as though I were a lady whose favour his knight is trying win. Or, as though he's attempting to convince a startled cat out from under a bed. I not really sure which despite the huge differences between those two scenarios. He's looking directly at me and for the life of me I have no clue how I'm supposed to react to this. In all my wild and macabre imaginings of what was going to occur to me once I'd reached Volterra, this was not even within the same universe of possibility. How in the world am I supposed to react?
Looking to the other two thirds of the Volturi powerhouses the one with long black hair (either Aro or Marcus, I'm not sure, whichever is not the one knelt before me) is gaping slightly, his arm restraining and conveying some unheard message to Caius who looks equally as taken aback. The guards are murmuring in a soft hush to one another and you can almost feel the surprise and tension in the room. I quickly look back at the man before me and quite honestly part of me is terrified.
He's huge, much larger up close than what he had seemed to be when he still sat upon his throne. It was almost as if when he seemed to grow in size and presence the moment he met my eyes. He has broad shoulders and must be around six and a half feet in height. I could tell that he was a warrior or at least did hard labour during his human lifetime due to his musculature beneath his velvet robes. However, I really can't picture him doing grunt work in my mind, he holds too much of an edge of barely constrained power and leadership to do such. It looks as though he was changed in his early to mid-thirties, though with how old these vampires are it is hard to tell for certain. He has the same parchment-soft looking skin that Caius has with similar milky blood red eyes. He isn't pretty as what seems to be the popular look for males these days, but instead he has handsome qualities. The set of his jaw and the straight line of his nose move something in me that Edward never had. He has slightly wavy rich brown mid-length hair that brushes his shoulders and he's staring at me as though he is seeing the arrival of God. The intensity of it sets me ill at ease and I step back once, though another part of me screams in protest. After what seems to be an eternity he speaks to me.
"Dear one, I am Marcus Volturi of Volterra. I know the last day or so has been exceedingly difficult for you, but I swear to you on my honour as a lord among vampires that nothing more will harm you here."
The gasps I hear are even louder than before, and the two woman sitting with Caius and, who by process of elimination, must be Aro, actually look faint. Caius' eyes are bulging slightly accompanying his look of horror and Aro's face has lost all his emotions altogether. It is now of course that my brain to mouth filter fails and the first thing that pops to mind slips out past my lips in reply.
"You vampires have the most strange and confusing kidnapping plots. But, umm, thanks I guess."
There seems to be a full and heavy pause before Marcus' lips twitch and then morph into the most breathtaking smile. I can even feel the mirth in his eyes as he looks at me and my stomach tightens as he chuckles lowly.
"It has indeed been confusing, and you are most welcome. What is your name dearest?" he questions me calmly, as though it is an everyday occurrence to have such conversations between vampires and humans. The kindness in his tone however eases something in me and I can feel my shaking subside a bit.
"Oh, Bella. What I mean is my name is Isabella Marie Swan, but I go by Bella," I stammer in reply. He smiles slightly again and I tentatively smile back.
"Your name suits you, Bella," he states before holding out his hand to me. He moves slowly as though not to make any sudden movements that would send me skittering off to places unknown.
"Come, we will get you settled in and then hopefully we shall figure out what exactly is going on in this mess, shall we?"
I hesitate for a moment, unerringly brought back to the last vampires I trusted but something in me is telling me to grab his hand. He kneels there as though he would wait forever for me to gain my courage to take his hand in mine and it is that calm assurance and fortitude the pushes me to take the steps needed to close the gap between us. As I place my hand in his I once again realize how much larger he is than me, my own thin fingers dwarfed by his own cold ones as he gently holds them. With much more grace than is humanly possible- let alone within my realm of capabilities- he stands and proceeds to tuck my hand to rest around his elbow and on his forearm, his opposite hand lightly resting reassuringly on my fingers.
Wondering how I managed to get into this situation and when exactly he had gotten so close I see him nod purposefully towards Aro and Caius before gently tugging me to start walking with him. He keeps his pace slow and comfortable for me, (unlike what I had experienced with the twins earlier) and escorts me out a side door from the room. We silently weave through corridors, and the scenery changes from utilitarian to a more luxurious homey feel, if a castle can feel homey.
We bypass a portrait which draws my eye for a moment, the shock of golden blonde hair of one Carlisle Cullen causes me to stumble as I rapidly look away from the painting. Before I can even start to catch myself Marcus catches my weight with the arm he is holding as his other hand steadies me at my waist. He continues to hold me while I get my feet firmly beneath myself again, quietly questioning me.
"Are you well, Bella?" Mentally I snort at this. I haven't been anywhere close to the definition of well for years, though I know that isn't what he meant.
"I'm fine, thank-you Marcus. I'm just really clumsy, I can trip over just about anything, including air."
I glance up into his milky-red eyes and smile a little. He nods in reply but I can see that he doesn't fully believe me. Smart Vampire.
Releasing me, but keeping my arm firmly in his grasp, we resume walking.
"We are almost to my study," he says, "It is a significantly more comfortable setting, especially for a human such as yourself. When we arrive please make yourself at home."
I nod silently but know I won't. From what all I've learned of vampires you don't poke around in their things. On top of this the Volturi seem very secretive to me, sitting in one place not touching anything really is my best route I think, though I do appreciate how accommodating he is being. Call me paranoid, but I somehow doubt that his hospitality is normal.
Finally we reach a large intricately carved wooden door. The frame has leaves and small animals detailed and the hinges are elaborate wrought iron which sprawl out over the old wood. Marcus easily opens the no doubt heavy door and gestures for me to enter first. Taking a couple steps forwards I am hit with one of my favourite smells in the world- old books. Going further in I notice that most of the lower portion of the walls are covered with bookshelves filled to bursting. The ceiling is quite high, leaving two beautifully intricate windows enough room to let natural light in from overhead on the left. Along the back wall is a small fireplace with a large wooden desk and chair off to the right of it. There are assorted chairs and one small loveseat in the room, and though the fabrics on the different chairs are not alike they seem to go together well. The desk has some orderly stacks of paper on it along with assorted writing instruments but nothing else. All in all the room is cosy but surprisingly lacking any personal touches.
"Sit wherever you like, dearest," Marcus comments from behind me reminding me that I am now blocking the doorway. I approach a lovely velvet upholstered chair by the barren fireplace and sit there. It is surprisingly plush and I get the urge to slip my shoes off and curl into it, though I resist. Marcus chooses the chair beside me and sinks into it, his eyes never leaving me for a moment. Uncomfortable I comment on the first thing that comes to mind.
"I love the smell of old books."
Marcus does this little half-smile, as though his face is unused to such a movement before he responds. "I too appreciate the smell. It is such a shame that it is no longer common to bind the pages in leather as it adds something substantial to a tome I believe."
I find myself genuinely smiling for the first time in months, feeling it light up my face as I nod in return. "I agree," I reply automatically, "Leather covers seem to give the words more impact or potential. As though they too will stand the test of time and wear that the leather itself can endure." Marcus smiles a little broader in response to my unexpected enthusiasm.
"Do you read often, Bella?" he asks leaning towards me resting his elbows on his knees.
"Whenever I get the time. I've not been able to as much lately, but reading is one of my escapes. No matter what is going on in my life I can immerse myself in the pages of a novel and nothing else is important." I pause for a moment then realize I don't know what else to say. I suddenly realize how red his eyes are as he watches me so intently and know exactly what it is that makes them such a deep crimson. A part of me wonders whether or not my blood would make that red even more vibrant.
He seems to sense my sudden hesistance, as he leans back, weaving his fingers together nonchalantly. "My brothers will be along shortly, but I do not want you to worry. My oath is true, you will not be harmed here." He pauses a moment before looking towards the door, "Here they are now."
AN: Hello everyone! Firstly I'd like to say thank-you so much for your enthusiastic response to the first chapter of this story! 20 reviews is many more than I thought I was going to receive. I tried to answer any and all questions I received from you, but some of you left anonymous reviews (which is fine) and I can't respond to them directly with this system. Please feel free to ask any questions or leave any responses to the chapter for me. It gives me a little thrill every time I see a new review alert in my e-mail inbox.
As for the reviewer who mentioned my mixing up of my past and present tenses, I'm sorry! I've only ever written in third person, so switching to first has been difficult. I read over this chapter with even more scrutiny but I'm sure I've missed some words- pretend they're present tense please! I was originally going to write this in third person, but I went to write Bella and she came out in first insisting on staying that way with a tantrum of massive proportions when I tried to switch her. Aro then backed her up waving his hands all over the place stating that to truly appreciate him readers needed to feel his emotions and hear his thoughts. Needless to say I gave in.
I hope you enjoyed the introduction of Marcus. I want to clarify that he doesn't start out very dominant in nature as he is coming out of a millennia long mourning period as well as the fact he doesn't want to scare the living daylights out of Bella by coming on too strong. Not to mention that he is fairly mellow by nature as well if that makes sense. In charge, but quiet. Also, for those of you who I'm sure are wondering about Marcus' quite passionate response here- it will be explained further of course in coming chapters but part of it is that Marcus knows his own power extremely well. He is highly confident in his ability to interpret relationship bonds, and when the bond was completed he felt it to the very core of his being. Bella felt it too, you'll find coming up that she is more receptive to him than anyone else and less anxious around him, but as a human the bond has less of an immediate impact on her than it does on Marcus.
Just one last thing, then I'll let you go I promise! Updates will likely be a bit slow over the next month and a half. It's my last semester of my bachelor's of science degree at University and I've got papers, projects and exams pretty much constant from here until the end (mid-april), so please bare with me! I'm hoping to still update (and I'm certainly still writing) but things will be slow. Thanks again!
