Mariah awoke the next morning to the sound of quiet rain and soft whispers all around her. She slowly became aware of the fact that she was freezing and shuddered involuntarily. There were several more whispers and someone chuckled lightly beside her. Someone kissed her hair and Mariah's eye lids fluttered a few times before she opened her eyes and gazed up at the ceiling.
"Good morning, my love." Aro whispered in her ear.
"Good morning Cherie'." Caius said from her other side.
Mariah ran her fingers through her hair once before slowly sitting up. She didn't remember coming up here last night. The last thing she really remembered was lying in Aro's arms as he sung to her, after that…nothing.
"I don't remember coming up here." Mariah said, still half asleep.
Aro chuckled. "You fell asleep, so Carlisle and Esme said you could sleep up here in their room."
"Oh." Was all Mariah could say.
"You weren't usually this confused in the morning." Caius smiled as she lay back down into the soft pillows.
"I wasn't a twenty first century teenager then." Mariah mumbled in her defence.
"How much do you remember?" Caius asked quietly.
"I remember once thinking of you as a white knight on a steed." Mariah said, blushing slightly before adding. "And I also remember certain other things which I'll leave to the imagination to figure out." Aro ran his hand up her thigh and nuzzled against her neck the way he always used to.
"I guess you also remember how happy we were whenever we were with you." Caius smiled again.
"I think you just broke your record for how many times you can smile in one sitting."
"Good thing I'm sitting, do I have a record for how many times I smile while standing?" His smile widened.
"You have rather corny jokes… but I love them." Mariah smiled up at him and winked. She had no idea what this simple gesture did to them.
It inspired the passion they had once shared with her. Reanimated their cold hearts. And, most of all, brought love, joy and… hope. Hope and meaning had been returned to both Aro and Caius when they had first set they're eyes on Mariah, their soul mate, their one true love.
The hours passed and Mariah became increasingly aware of the fact that it started getting dark outside. She needed to get home soon… before she said or did something to make them make her stay.
"Why don't you let Edward and I read your mind?" Aro asked in an uninterested voice. But Mariah knew better. She knew how much he wanted to see into, what he used to call, her labyrinthial mind. She looked back at him. He had a look on his face that resembled a child trying to feign innocence.
"You really should see your face," Mariah laughed. "It's priceless."
Aro seemed to know the game was up and went back to smiling at her in expectation. "You didn't answer my question Mariah."
"It is a valid question," Mariah tried to cover her remaining giggles, eventually succeeding. "Um, privacy I guess."
Aro suddenly looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Last time, I didn't have a choice in whether you read my mind or not. It's dreadful having someone know exactly what you're thinking all the time, even more so considering you can see every thought I've ever had. So, this time I'm doing it my way." Mariah qualified.
"Dreadful? In what way?" Aro suddenly seemed overly amused, like he knew he could make her slip up and get her to say something that had several meanings.
"It's just really embarrassing." Mariah said carefully.
"You know you don't have to be embarrassed around us," Aro smiled mischievously. "And besides, it's not like you haven't read our thoughts since you got here."
"And it's not like we haven't done this before." Caius said, and he watched as realization dawned on her face and she pulled up the bed cover. He smirked, "Seen it."
"Actually, I haven't read your thoughts or Caius's for that matter." Mariah replied smugly, ignoring Caius's jibe.
"Ah, but you read Marcus's thoughts." Aro's smile widened.
"That was different. He barely ever says anything, and that makes it difficult to understand him. Plus I wanted to know why he looked so confused." Mariah suddenly wished she'd just shut her mouth.
Aro smiled darkly and Caius pushed her back down onto the bed. "Hello Marcus." Mariah said as she struggled against Caius to sit up again.
"Hello Mariah. Am I difficult to understand to you?" Marcus said as he floated across the room to the end of the bed.
"Not anymore." Mariah smiled. "I had a dream about you last night."
"Really..." Caius scoffed.
"Yeah, it's how I remember things. Through my dreams, I see glimpses of my old life. It's… bizarre." Mariah turned around in time to see his face become serious again. "I like you better when you smile."
"That, I can believe." Aro wrapped his arms around Mariah again. "I remember what you thought before, my dear."
"Why were you confused Marcus?" Mariah asked as she tried to remove Aro's arms from around her waist.
"Because your bond with them, is still as strong as it was before. But it seems to just keep getting stronger, especially if you have a sudden burst of emotion towards one of them." Marcus frowned.
"So if I get really, really angry with one, or both, of them I'll… make my bond with them stronger?" Mariah asked.
"Yes." Marcus replied, his face suddenly blank.
"Right, no emotional outbursts from me. Got it." Mariah said to the wall.
"Why? Don't you want to make the bond between you stronger?" Marcus was confused again.
"No, not at the moment. Can't I just get to know them without that?" Mariah said annoyed.
Just then, Demetri and Heidi entered the room and stood against a wall.
"Actually, no. No you can't Mariah. The bond between soul mates is so strong that neither can resist an urge that powerful. It was the same for me and Heidi as well. Sorry to be so blunt but, the females feel the need to submit to their mates every command and the males feel that animalistic urge to claim what is theirs," Demetri explained before smirking at Heidi. "Though it does become less powerful after a decade or so, which makes it easier for you both to focus on the matter at hand… when your mate is in the room."
"Oh… fan-tast-ic." Mariah said with overly done sarcasm.
"The fact that you've resisted this long is astounding." Demetri said, looking at her curiously.
"Believe me, it's not witho… … … I'm gonna stop right there." Mariah said looking at her feet, suddenly realising that her shoes were missing. "Where are my shoes?"
"Why, do you need them?" Aro smirked.
"Yeah. I do plan on going home at some point today." Mariah said before jumping off the bed, clean into Felix's waiting arms.
"Ha, ha," Felix laughed as he dumped her back onto the bed. "Gotcha!"
"Hey that's cheating!" Mariah smirked up at him as she slid off the bed and stood up. She was still in yesterday's clothes, but remembered also having a jacket which was now gone.
"Your shoes and jacket are downstairs Mariah." Felix smiled playfully down at her.
"But to get them, you first need to get past us." Demetri smiled as he stood in front of the door.
"Hmm, I wonder how I'll get out of this one… Emmet?" Mariah called softly.
"Yeah Riah?" Emmet appeared outside the door.
"Wanna play ball?" Mariah smiled knowing he knew this trick.
Emmet's smiled became dazzling. "Sure. Where to?"
"Stairs… outside." Mariah kept talking as if it were an every day conversation.
"'Scuse me boys." Emmet said as he bounded into the room.
"Don't hurt her or you'll wish you'd never been born." Aro said, shifting into a hunting crouch.
"Lighten up Aro," Mariah teased. "Besides, you'll love this trick."
"Ready?" Emmet asked.
"Aim," Mariah said, and Emmet let her step up onto his hand and held her steady. "Fire."
Emmet launched Mariah through the air on her side at the wall. Mariah made her molecular structure unmold, passed through the wall and reanimated her body in time to land delicately at the bottom of the staircase.
Mariah soon realised that she wasn't alone. Aro and Caius were standing in front of her gazing in wonder of what she had just done. Without thinking, Mariah hugged Aro and breathed in his scent.
"Neat trick huh?" Mariah smiled sweetly, before bounding over to the couch and retrieved her jacket and put her shoes on. When she turned back round, Aro and Caius had barely moved an inch, and were now surrounded by their guard.
"Please don't ever do that again." Aro pleaded.
"You nearly gave us both a heart attack, and that's not the easiest thing to do, you know?" Caius said.
"Why not? It's fun and I'm not getting hurt. Just take it easy, your royal highnesses. You may be used to having people bow to you every command, but not me. I'm gonna do things my way." Mariah said smugly as she turned and walked outside.
Carlisle waited for her round the side of the house where she had left her motor bike a few days back. He knew that this was how she was going to get home, so he waited here for her. As she came around the corner, Mariah looked up and smiled at the man who had been like a father to her for so long.
"Hey," Mariah said, hugging Carlisle. "Don't worry, it'll sort itself out. I know it will."
Then she got on her bike, started the engine and roared off down the road back to her house. But Caius and Aro had other plans. They didn't want to let her out of their sight, and a motorbike was absolutely out of the question. But Mariah had a head start, and was home before they picked up the trail her scent left behind her. It had only just started to rain again when Mariah pulled into the garage of her home. Troy was inside, singing along to an old song he knew and Ric waved to her from the door which led from the garage to the house. Mariah stood her bike in the corned of the garage and went inside to help make dinner.
"You were at the Cullen's all night Riah." Ric said as they laid the food on the table.
"Yeah, we had to go through a lot of paperwork and by the time we finished it was too late to call and ask for a lift home and they said I could stay the night there… so I crashed on their couch."
"And you were gone all day too." He continued.
"Yeah, they all wanted to play ball and asked if I would like to come alone. It's mad playing with them. I mean seriously, they're all like serious major league material… its insane! But a hell of a lot of fun though." Mariah formed excuses out of nowhere.
"Oh, and you didn't think to call to tell us this?" Ric raised an eyebrow as he asked this.
"Completely slipped my mind. I am sorry about that, really." Mariah apologized.
"I know. I'm just checking you weren't stuck out in a field somewhere." Ric always said this to end a conversation. And it was a good thing he did too, because at that moment, the rest all filed in for dinner and all conversation was diverted in more interesting areas. Like how pre-school went that day for Pat and Suzie's daughter Mandy, and the upcoming gig they all had to play for and who would babysit Mandy that night.
As the evening went on, Mariah became increasingly aware that they were being watched. But she couldn't see who was outside because of the lights inside.
"Troy, Ric… I'm just gonna pop outside for a minute for some fresh air." Mariah called as she went outside to investigate.
It was easier to see her surroundings outside without the lights of the house blinding her. Something large moved in the trees next to the house. And Mariah took a few tentative steps toward the edge of the tree line.
"Felix… is that you?" Mariah whispered into the night.
A low chuckle returned to her on the breeze. "Yes."
"And myself, also." Demetri said as he stepped out of the trees into plain sight. "Aro and Caius sent us to fetch you back to them."
"Yeah, well, I'm a little preoccupied right now. So you can tell their royal highnesses that I shall not be joining them this evening." Mariah said with biting sarcasm. "I have a life this time round, and I enjoy living it very much, accidents and near death experiences and all."
"Surely you don't mean to say that." A voice said from deep within the trees.
"Ugh." Mariah groaned as she saw two figures emerge from the trees. "Aro… Caius… guys, won't give me a break already?"
"We lost you once; we don't plan on losing you again." Aro said, suddenly beside Mariah with his arms around her waist.
"What the hell. Look I know you're gonna try to be overprotective now, but I'm giving advance warning, I will not be complying with any of it. You got that?" Mariah fumed as she turned to look Aro in the eye.
"Actually, you will comply with what we ask you to do," Aro whispered menacingly into her ear. "Or else people will not be very safe."
Mariah read the meaning in his expression and her eyes widened. "You wouldn't…" Her voice trailed away.
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Aro looked back at Felix and Demetri before gesturing toward the house. The two members of the Volturi guard began stalking towards the house as Aro looked back at Mariah.
"No… you wouldn't…" Mariah struggled in Aro's iron grip, desperately trying to break away from him and get to the house. "You wouldn't! Because you'd never do anything to make me unhappy! Never!"
Just then, little Mandy came running out of the house and Stephadro followed her in his low, predatory crouch.
"NO! Leave her be! She's only a child! Let me GO!" Mariah kicked and hit as much as she could in the position she was held in. "Please! Leave her! Please…" Mariah began to sob.
Aro pulled he back, so that her ear was next to his mouth. "Hush love, be still." He whispered.
"No, let me go!" Mariah sobbed as she frantically tried to free herself from his stone arms. "Bambina, sweetie, come to Riah."
The little girl ran into Mariah's waiting, and protecting, arms. Mariah held her close, too close she realised, Aro could touch Mandy and that was risking too much. Mariah pushed herself away with as much force as she could muster at that moment and shoved herself and Mandy away from Aro, only to land with Mandy on top of her on the ground with a heavy thud.
Mariah stood up and gathered Mandy into her arms. "What happened to you? You used to make me fall in love with you every time I saw you, but now you only threaten and terrify me." Mariah's voice shook and Mandy began to cry in her arms as she sensed the tension around them, before Mariah added in an angry voice. "Kindly leave here. Go back to the Cullen's or, better yet, go back to Italy where you belong!"
"You belong there too Mariah… with us." Caius said quietly, his face showed how much Mariah's words had hurt him.
"No, I really don't think I do." Mariah said before turning and striding back towards the house.
Pat came out and took Mandy from Mariah and went back inside without even noticing the others. Mariah hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Not long, but it was long enough for Aro to catch her arm and spin her to face him while his other arm wrapped her waist, securing her to him. His touch sent shivers down her spine and his eyes made her shake, whether this was from fear or desire Mariah couldn't tell.
"This was never the way I planned, it was not our intension to frighten or enrage you. We simply don't ever want to lose you again… don't ever want to go through the centuries of pain, grief and suffering we endured after your death. We thought we'd never see you again." Aro's eyes implored her to understand.
With him being that close it was hard not to resist the effect he had over her. That and the emotional outburst she had just had seconds ago, had just strengthened her bond with both Aro and Caius ten fold. She had the overpowering urge to simply give in to him. To give herself to him, body, heart, mind and soul, right then and there. It was all she could do not to give in to the desire she felt for him.
"Please, Cara mia, come with us tonight." Caius was actually pleading with her.
"Where would we be going?" Mariah asked, still a little dazed by just how close she was to Aro.
"We have acquired a small place just outside the town's limits." Caius smiled at her.
"I really shouldn't…" Mariah's voice faded before she finished her sentence as Aro pressed her closer to his body, letting her feel the evidence of his desire for her. She forgot that Demetri, Felix and Stephadro were watching the lovers intently, waiting for her to give in and admit that she did indeed still feel the same about Aro and Caius as she had before.
Mariah heard this in their minds and looked back at them, slightly nervous, but the sudden smile that had broken across Caius' face gave her courage and she looked back at Aro. "Hold that thought."
Aro loosened his hold on Mariah and let her go. She walked over to Caius and then turned to the guard. "I never said that I didn't still love them Felix, I admitted it to myself at least… and even though I may only be seventeen, I still know what it's like to hurt because your love is not near enough to you." She looked at Aro and added. "I will come tonight, but I do so because I want to not just because you want me to"
Caius picked her up and swung her round in the air twice before setting her back on her feet and kissing her passionately, giving her entire body the sensation of melting. "Thank you, Cara mia, thank you, love." Caius whispered against her lips before he pulled back from the kiss.
"However," Mariah continued, regaining her senses. "The proviso is no doing anything that will scare me, etcetera, etcetera… got it?"
"Certainly, love, but just remember… we can be quite persuasive when we want to be, if we want something enough," Caius said as he swept her off her feet and carried her over to where Aro was.
Aro turned to his guard. "Thank you gentlemen, I do believe that is all for tonight." And he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Caius turned to go but she remembered her friends inside.
"Wait!" she said in a hushed tone. "I need to give them a reason why I'll be gone."
"Be quick love." Caius smiled as he put her down and watched her run into the house and then come running back out two minutes later.
"What did you tell them?" Aro inquired.
"I told them I had a date," Mariah blushed slightly. "Is that viable?"
"Incredibly," Caius said before picking her up again. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Mariah wrapped her arms around his neck as he began to run through the green woods of Forks.
Even at night the trees were still visibly green from the squashy green moss that covered the trunks. Mariah observed this as they flew through the woods. It was not long until they got to the place Caius had mentioned earlier. As she had suspected, it was not small be any standards, it was in fact the old mansion that had recently been redone. The scene before her was picturesque. It looked like it was straight out of an Austen film.
Caius carried her up the garden path, over the threshold and upstairs. Aro was already there sitting on the edge of an enormous bed that could probably sleep six people comfortably. Caius sat her on the bed next to Aro and excused himself for a moment, leaving the two alone together.
"You look tired my love." Aro stated, tracing the light shadows forming under her eyes.
"I feel it too." Mariah smiled at him.
"You are allowed to lie down you know." Aro said, lying back into the soft pillows himself, smiling as he did so.
Mariah knew the meaning behind this simple movement. Knew exactly what he wanted. And she suddenly hurt in places she didn't know she had before, because she knew she couldn't give it to him. She was scared. She wanted so desperately to be reassured but didn't know how to say what she felt.
"Aro… Aro I…" Mariah's voice seemed to be failing her.
"What's wrong love?" Aro sat up and looked into her eyes, searching.
"I…," she felt as though she was about to cry, her voice was barely more than a whisper. "I don't know how to do this. I… I can't…" she broke down into tears.
Aro pulled her into his arms gently and lay back with her in his cool embrace, comforting her. She was the same, frightened girl she had been before. No matter how hard she tried to put on a brave face every day, this still frightened her beyond words, and he knew it.
"Hush now, sweetheart, don't cry now. I'm sorry if my actions frightened you. I would never hurt you or force you to do anything." Aro kissed the top of her head lightly. "Just know you are safe and loved."
"I just don't know how to handle this," she was trying to make sense of things. "I still love you, and want you, the same way I did before…but this is all new to me in this life. I've never felt so conflicted before, and it scares me."
"Shhhh. Sleep now love." Aro said as Caius came and lay down on Mariah's other side.
"We'll still be here when you wake up." Caius' voice was soft, gentle and reassuring. It was the last thing she remembered before drifting off into the black abyss of sleep.
