Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 7
Aro POV
I had hoped that this day would never come. The three unknown vampires before me were sent by the Romanians Vladimir and Stefan. They knew that it was futile to send them in here to destroy us so the question was why did they?
"It seems that these three were sent to destroy us brothers. They would have failed with or without the assistance of our dear Isabella, so the question is why would the try something so futile as this?" I said. It was practically suicide to try something like this. Maybe the Romanians were getting desperate. Just then Heidi and Chelsea came in with two more unknown vampires.
"Masters, these two were spotted heading into the tower. Apparently they were after the wives." Chelsea stated. I was furious that they were sent to the chambers that our wives frequent when we were doing business.
"Aro if I may?" Isabella stood and approached me. I nodded. "They sent three to dispatch the brothers and two to the towers for the wives? They perhaps hoped that our guard would be ill prepared and only be able to stop one of the attacks. They did not plan on Dora and Cia being here with you and of course they didn't know about me." Isabella stated and she did have a valid point since most of the guard was spread out handling other items.
"Perhaps she has a point Brother." Caius stated still clinging to Dora.
"I believe that Dora and Cia should no longer be separated from you during business, at least until this matter is settled." Bella said and I agreed with a nod. Can you gather anything else brother?" she asked and one of the intruders scoffed.
"And who are you? Marcus getting so desperate that he has a full time whore?" One of the men said and I saw the change in Bella as her shield reached out to him. Marcus was enraged but Caius was holding him in place for the moment. She pulled her shield around him like she did with Victoria and pulled him close with a menacing growl that I had never thought she could pull off.
"You will hold your tongue, else you find it ripped from your person." She told him menacingly and smirked evily. I was slightly scared of her at the moment. Protection of a vampires mate causes them to be much more dangerous. "Not that it really matters, you will be dead soon." She held her shield and turned to us. "Brothers, sisters and my dear mate. It appears that we have an unscheduled trial to attend to. These five stand accused of an attempted attack on us. They are here because the Romanians sent them which constitutes treason on their parts. How should we proceed Brothers? And my dear Marcus?" I will admit that I enjoyed seeing this new side of my new sister. She fit in perfectly here and seemingly without effort.
"Chelsea should break their bonds so that we can hear what the Romanians have in store for us. Then perhaps we should move on with the trial dear sister?" I said and received a nod from the others and Bella. Just then Jane returned and ran through the doors looking frantic. Bella smiled at her.
"Don't worry Jane. We could not have foreseen this and there was no harm done. Restrain this piece of trash so that Chelsea can work her magic." Bella ordered. Jane immediately took hold of the man so that Bella could lift her shield. Chelsea removed their bonds to the Romanians and they were all questioned. I had seen all of their thoughts and I feared for my mate and my family. I was surprised that Bella was the one to take charge of this the way she has.
"What is the verdict dear brother?" Bella said while smiling at me. I couldn't believe that she was able to be this authoritative with such a kind heart.
"Guilty for all of them. Brothers?" I said.
"Guilty." They said in unison with Dora and Cia.
"Isabella?" I asked.
"Guilty." She stated. "I believe that I will let the brothers handle this one. I will shield my sisters." She turned and headed to the far side of the room where Cia and Dora were. Caius and Marcus joined me near the accused.
"Brothers it has been a while since we had a good fight. Wouldn't you agree?" Caius sneered. He was certainly enjoying this.
"I agree brother. Perhaps we should educate them on the reason that we have ruled through the centuries." Marcus added and I was overjoyed that he had Bella in his life. She had resurrected him from his despair. It has been centuries since Marcus took part in a trial such as this.
"Indeed we shall." I said. "Release them and step aside." I ordered of the guard and they complied. Sure it was five against three, but in a matter of minutes, they were in pieces. We piled them and lit the pyre, watching our enemies' destruction. I looked over to our wives and Bella who were standing with smirks of satisfaction. The guard cleaned up the mess and the guard dispersed with the exception of Felix, Demetri, and Jane.
Bella POV
I have never been one for violence, especially on those that were not deserving, but once those vampires attempted to attack us I was a different person. I still believed that there were innocents and some that didn't deserve violence against them, but there were also those that invited violence by their actions against others. I had been told by Edward that the Volturi were ruthless and were unforgiving monsters, but living here with them proved to me that was not the case. They protected their own and did what was necessary to provide for their family. They also made sure that our laws were upheld and the guilty were punished accordingly.
The brothers and their wives along with Marcus and I were all sitting in the throne room after the intruders were destroyed. I felt a sense of pride that my family had survives thousands of years in their position as leaders of our kind and I had proven myself worthy of them.
"Isabella I must say that I am pleasantly surprised with you. Since you have arrived, you have never ceased to amaze us." Aro stated. I felt that if I could have blushed I would be bright red at the moment
"I agree Bella. You have proven worthy of being here with us and ruling with us. Cia and Dora do not wish to take ruling status here beside us and you have the same right as they do to bow out, but I do wish that you would consider ruling beside us." Caius said. I was speechless for a moment. I looked at Marcus who was smiling widely at me.
"The choice is yours Cara. Whatever you decide." Marcus said and I smiled. I had my decision made.
"Brothers it would be an honor to rule beside you." I said with a smile. Dora and Cia looked proud as well as the brothers.
"Perfect my dear. We will have to have a celebration in honor of your decision." Aro said a little too happily. Can vampires take Valium?
"Brother before you get too excited over there, there is another matter I would like to ask Cara about." Marcus said with a smile and stood, walking to stand before me and knelt down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box and I gasp in realization of what he was doing. "Isabella Swan, I know that we have not know one another very long but I have fallen for you harder than I could have imagined. I wish to make you my mate, my queen and my wife. Isabella will you do me the honor of being my wife?" He said and I could feel the venom tears of happiness forming in my eyes.
"Yes Marcus, I would be honored to stand by you as your mate, your Queen and your wife." I replied. He smiled happily and placed the ring on my finger. He embraced me tightly and kissed me passionately. I heard clapping and cheering causing me to look up in curiosity. The entire guard was here and the brothers and their wives were all wearing large smiles.
"Well brother this does indeed call for a celebration." Aro said clapping happily. "We will invite all of the clans to meet their new queen." I groaned a little.
"Is the fanfare really necessary?" I asked. Caius looked like he sided with me in terms of not liking the extravagance and attention. Aro smirked at my discomfort of course and I groaned again. Again with Aro, always with the flare for the dramatic. I certainly hoped that if he went through with this whole celebration thing, that immortality had gifted me with the ability to dance without the previous embarrassment.
"We have plenty of time to discuss the celebration but I would like to train with my shields some more and then relax a little. We also need to discuss what to do with the Romanians." I said. That took some of the wind out of their sails. His joy deflated and I felt a little bad for bringing the death of his momentary happiness. I stood from Marcus' lap and went over to Aro. I looked to Cia and she nodded, moving out of his lap so that I could go to him. I placed both hands on his face and tilted it so that his eyes met mine.
"Aro I am sorry to put a damper on your happiness. I promise that we have ample time to discuss a celebration like you have envisioned, but we should consider the threat as our first priority. I only wish to protect the Volturi, those whom I now consider my family. We are a slightly dysfunctional family I will admit, but family none the less." I said and he emitted a strange choked laugh, but smiled widely. Cia and Dora were trying to contain their giggles. Caius had his signature sneer but it was slightly upturned as if he was holding back a grin. Marcus smiled at me unabashed.
"You are correct Isabella my dear. Please forgive my oversight and inability to arrange my priorities accordingly." Aro said and pulled one hand away from his face and kissed my knuckles in thanks. I smiled at him sincerely.
"No need for an apology brother and there is nothing to forgive." I said and he smiled. "Brothers I believe that Cia and Dora should also train as well. I know that they have trained previously, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a refresher course if you would call it that." Cia returned to her post on Aro's lap and I returned to Marcus. Marcus smiled and wrapped me in his arms tightly as I leaned into his chest.
"I agree sister. We need to be prepared for the unforeseen. Our mates are our main priority and so is their safety." Caius commented and winked in my direction. He was definitely warming up to me.
"Very Well. Demetri?" Aro called and he was present within seconds.
"Master?" He replied.
"Please take our mates to the training room and have them prepared for the unforeseen. We want them all to be able to fight if it indeed comes to that." Aro said and Demetri nodded. "The brothers and I will be along shortly to monitor their progress but there are some things we must discuss first." Cia, Dora and I stood and bid our goodbyes to our mates. We followed Demetri from the throne room and down the corridors to the training facilities. Dora was to my left and Cia was on my right.
"Isabella I am so glad that you are here with us. If you were not, I believe that the circumstances would have been much different today. We have many guards and we trust them dearly, but they simply cannot be everywhere at once." Cia commented.
"I believe that you both would have been fine, however it is daunting to imagine what the outcome could have been today. Let's not dwell on the 'what if's shall we. That's too depressing for my taste." They both nodded.
"I will say that when we were introduced to you, I wouldn't have believed that you could help to reign Aro in and also make Marcus so happy." Cia said and I laughed.
"I honestly didn't mean to rain on his parade, but he did need just a little redirection." I commented.
"There has also been a change in Caius. He has never smiled so much in public and he does seem to be quite happy that you have agreed to rule beside them." Dora said smiling.
"That reminds me. Why do you two not rule with them?" I asked in curiosity.
"We simply do not wish to and we never had the knack for giving out orders and sentences. I can see that ability clearly in you, but we lack that particular gift." Dora said and Cia nodded as we reached the training room where some of the guards were already working. The stopped and acknowledged our presence and returned to their work.
"Felix, Jane, Alec, Afton, Renetta." Demetri called and they were there in an instant. "Felix and Jane, you will be working with Mistress Isabella and myself again. Afton, Alec and Renetta, take Mistress Sulpicia and Mistress Athenadora through the warm ups and instruct them on enhancing their fighting capabilities." They nodded and Cia and Dora were spilt to the other side of the room and began warm ups just as I did. When warm ups were completed, Demetri showed me some more complex moves than before and I quickly got them down. After several hours of training, we regrouped and started to spar.
Jane and I were called to the center and instructed not to use our gifts for this session. We took our positions and I filed through the memories of the things that Jasper had told me on how a newborn often fights. I made sure to catalogue these things as something I wouldn't do. I replayed some of the moves that I had witness the Cullens doing and was able to learn them quickly through my memories. The signal for the fight started and Jane lunged but I dodged quickly, grabbing her arm and threw her with more force that intended across the room. She stood up in surprise and lunged again but I did the same as before by grabbing her arm. I swung her around, ending up behind her with my teeth poised at her neck and my grip firm. She threw her shoulder into my body, loosening my grip and pulled away. This time I lunged and sent a kick to her chest. Poor Jane flew backwards several feet and I recognized the look of frustration on her face. She lunged again but I jumped at the last possible minute and landed behind her. I grabbed her by the throat and pulled her down to the floor, again with teeth poised at her throat.
When it was finally over I relaxed from my crouch and stood to my full height. I looked around the room at the stunned expressions and almost laughed. I saw Demetri with a proud smile and I saw his eyes flick to something behind me. I whirled around, catching Jane again by the throat and slammed her to the ground. She looked at me with shocked wide eyes and I smiled.
"You do know Jane that attacking someone from behind is not the honorable thing to do. Then again if this were a real fight I wouldn't expect anything less." I said and she smiled as I released her. I held out my hand and helped her up. I looked around the room again and the others were still stunned frozen. I couldn't help but laugh which finally brought them out of their stupor.
"Bella how did you do some of those moves? We haven't covered any of them and some I haven't seen since the southern vampire wars." Demetri asked and I smiled. "You didn't even make the mistakes that most newborns make while fighting the first time.
"If you recall, I have all of my memories from my human life and I have been privy to some of those moves by simply watching. I can somehow replay them in my mind and then perform then as if I had done them for years." I explained and I swore that every jaw in the room dropped in awe.
Caius POV
Never in all my years in existence has someone who wasn't my mate affected me so deeply. Isabella was a strange creature in her human form and seemed to flourish here. She evened out the power that we all possessed and gave us all hope for our kind. While Aro was the ever happy one of the three and Marcus was the profoundly bored one, I had always been the merciless and cruel one that much was true. Cia and Dora evened us out greatly but since Bella's arrival, I have seen a side of her personality that I greatly enjoyed. She was a spitfire, sarcastic at times and at other time cruel. She knew exactly when to be ruthless and when to be compassionate. My own mood had also improved greatly on her arrival as a member of the ruling party.
Isabella seemed tactical in her approach to most things and it also seemed that she had an answer for everything. I was so glad that she had managed to reign Aro back in and get him back on the most important of issues. When she agreed to rule beside us I smiled internally. She was a strong woman as a human and almost unstoppable as an immortal. She brought a balance of justice and fairness along with the ruthlessness that was needed to rule our kind. When we held the trial for Victoria I thought that she would cower in fear, but she did the opposite of what I had foreseen. Watching her crush the red head with her shield was awe inspiring and I could see the sheer power eminating from her.
I was worried when she had rescued another newborn from Victoria's army. I feared that she would bring someone who would eventually turn and destroy our way of life. The girl she rescued was a friend of hers as a human and she vouched for her. I was more accepting of this as it was revealed that the girl was the mate to one of our most trusted guards, Alec. Bella had a compassionate nature but wielded unknown amounts of power.
"Brothers as much as I despise this, we have to know more about what the Romanians intentions are. We cannot put our mates in danger and we must eliminate the Romanian threat once and for all." Aro said.
"I agree Aro. What did you find in their thoughts?" I asked. I feared that there was more than what was revealed at the trial.
"The Romanians planned the attack to weaken our family and then attack with an army. Since the plan failed I am not sure what or when they will attempt again." Aro said.
"We need to keep our mates safe for sure and I don't think that will be a problem at all. Perhaps we should send some of our trusted scouts to collect information on their movements?" I added. My brothers nodded in agreement.
We agreed on a course of action and postponed the announcement of Bella as a fourth ruler since that would definitely draw the attention of the Romanians. We talked on similar topics and also talked of Bella and what an asset she was to us. We all loved her and she fit in perfectly here, as if she were born specifically to be in this position. We heard Bella's laughter from the training room and I smiled along with the brothers. We closed our discussions and made our way to the training area.
Please R&R.
