Chapter 3: Last Straw

MARCUS VOLTURI

"Marcus!" Caius bellowed, stomping into my room.

I turned to him with the bored expression that I must have spent at least a million hours perfecting in front of the mirror. "What, Caius?" I said in my also-much-rehearsed deadpan voice. "Can't you see I'm counting grains of salt?"

"Look at this," he snarled, shoving a small device under my nose.

I looked at it. "A PSP on YouTube," I observed. "You know, Caius, you really are an ancient overlord."

"Just watch the video," he snapped.

I scrolled down. The video was titled "Ginormica battles a robotic dragon underwater in her wedding dress". "I think the title says it all," I said dryly.

"Just watch it!" Caius bellowed. His anger caused me to laugh for probably about the eighth or ninth time in my existence.

You must understand, I have been around for more than three millennia with no constant company but my two brothers. I defy anyone to spend that long with two people and not bait them at least occasionally.

The video was exactly what the title described. Ginormica and the machine grappled underwater for several seconds, before something small and black zipped in and delivered a killing blow to the dragon.

"What's your point?" I asked.

"Look!" Caius roared. "Look! Right at the end. The killing blow!" I watched the video again.

"What is that thing?"

"That's Jasper," Caius said simply. "Carlisle's boy. The video is available in higher quality on some sites. People are already studying it, wondering what it could be. They'll figure it out, then what will become of us?" He grinned broadly. "Do you see, brother? This is no misunderstanding this time. The law is on our side. We're going to take those yellow-eyed abominations down."