Chapter ten

Aro POV

I was sat at my desk in my study, not really looking at anything in particular - thinking about what Cassandra had said despite my trying to ignore her. I wasn't entirely sure how long I'd been sitting here - when you've lived a few millenia, time ceases to have much meaning. Still, I'd calmed down somewhat. Cassandra's little outburst had given me a lot think about - I'd never really considered her feelings before. After all, why should I? She's just a human. But even so, I had been thinking a lot about what she'd said. I didn't let myself respond straight away, hence I left her in my cellar - where she was being surprisingly quiet. I could her breathing rather raggedly, and humming softly to herself, but besides that, she was silent.

She was right, in a sense. I should have known she was pregnant. I had noticed there was something slightly off about her scent, but had ignored it, really. Put down to illness, perhaps. Malnutrition, or just an abnormality. I hadn't tried to discover the cause of it, or realised that it was even a possibility. It was stupid of me. But this wasn't the issue at the moment. The issue was deciding what an earth was I going to do now? She couldn't keep this child - it's completely unrealistic. Apart from anything else, it's hard enough keeping a human alive in castle full of vampires, never mind a baby human. It wouldn't be able to be changed until it was at least Jane and Alec's age, and we couldn't have a young human running around the castle for 12 years. Then there was the case of Cassandra - she would have to remain human to continue with the pregnancy, and I did not intend on leaving her human for the next nine months. But could I kill her baby? Could I do that to her?

"Alec." I called softly. My loyal guard appeared moments later, awaiting my instructions. "Could you go to my brothers and tell them I request to meet them in the library ten minutes regarding a matter of importance."

"Of course, Master." He bowed and left. Normally he would have made some small attempt at conversation, but he knew that I was in no mood for such actions. I took a quick trip down to the somewhat unused kitchen - Gianna was the only person to make use of it nowadays - to put together a ham sandwich and a glass of water for Cassandra. Returning to my quarters, I lit a candle stick and descended the stairs into the cellar. I was surprised to see that she was so quiet when I entered her cell, placing the food, water and candle on the floor. She was curled in the corner, shivering slightly. Her eyes flickered up to mine, but she made no attempt to move. Looking away from her, I turned to leave.

"Don't go." She whispered. "Please..." I paused in my steps. "You didn't answer me before. When I asked if you cared. If you cared, you wouldn't do this. You wouldn't leave me here. Please don't leave..." I avoided her question, focusing on her bloody clothes. Her body was scattered with deep gashes, soaking her clothes. Your fault... an unwanted voice whispered in my head. Go away, I thought. I left my conscience behind the day my heart stopped beating, and I didn't need it back now.

"You've lost too much blood. I'll send someone to stop your bleeding." I took a deep breath and removed myself from her presence.

"No...please..." There it was again. That uncomfortable tightness in my chest. Why did she do this to me? I should get rid of her to save myself the trouble. Yourfaultyourfaultyourfault... I wish this would stop. I took another unnecessary breath before replying.

"My dear, if I did not care about you, then you would definitely be dead by now." I spoke softly. "And I apologise if I have not been particularly clear about showing it." Giving in, I picked her up and took her to my own room, placing her on a chair in the corner. I made a second trip to bring her food back upstairs and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"Is this your room?" She asked, wrapping the blanket around herself. I nodded. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I have a meeting to attend, but after that, you shall not be leaving my side for a minute. You will sleep here from now on. I don't use the bed anyway." I turned and headed for the door. "Well, at least not for sleeping." I added, chuckling at her blush. "I shall return shortly and we will talk. Make sure you eat before I get back." I said as a closed and locked the door, heading for the library.

By chance, I passed Chelsea in the corridor on my way.

"Good evening, Master." She addressed me with the usual formalities.

"Evening, Chelsea. I have a task for you."

"Yes?" I handed her the keys to my quarters.

"There's a human girl in my room. She's lost a lot of blood, I'd like you to clean her up and ensure she eats the food left for her. Give her whatever medical care she needs, I want her healed as soon as humanly possible. Do not let her leave my room for any reason."

"Certainly, Master. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"That will be all, thank you." I dismissed her, but she hesitated slightly.

"Are you sure...? You don't want me to use my gift - to attach her to you? I mean, she's the one who ran away isn't she?" She had a point.

"Well, now that you mention it..." I thought for a moment. "No, not to me. I want her to become loyal to me of her own accord. However, I suppose it couldn't hurt give her a nudge in the right direction...If you bond her more closely to the Volturi, and yourself, perhaps?"

"Me?" She looked at me in disbelief.

"Yes. You are good with the young ones. You can help her see that we are not all the monsters she thinks us. We don't want another run-away situation, after all. Speaking of which, have you seen Felix and Demetri?"

"I'm afraid not, Master. May I ask why?"

"Cassandra - my human, I mean. When she ran, she released the other humans that were in storage as food. One girl is still missing. I don't know what's taking them so long - it should take Demetri a matter of minutes to find her, but they've been gone for hours." I realised my irritation was not aimed at Chelsea, so stopped myself before I had a chance to inflict it upon her. "Do not worry. It is none of your concern. I shan't keep you any longer - I've matters to attend to myself. Please stay with Cassandra until I return."

"Of course, Master." She scurried off to fulfill my wishes and I proceeded to the library to speak with my brothers. Upon entry, I noticed them sitting at the usual table in the far corner - we always sat there if ever we met in the library.

"About time, Aro." Caius complained. "You call some emergency meeting and then turn up ten minutes late?"

"Apologies, I got caught up speaking with Chelsea." Caius looked less than amused, but then again, when did he not?

"Dare I ask, what is this about, brother?"

"Given one guess," Marcus began, "I would assume it is Cassandra." He appeared more interactive than he had been in years.

"Who?" Caius hissed impatiently.

"His human - the one you had the pleasure of torturing last night. The whole castle heard you." I didn't miss Marcus's eyes twitch with distaste - I knew he thought very little of Caius' methods.

"Oh." He smirked to himself, remembering. "She was fun. Didn't hold up for very long, but fun nonetheless."

"Enough." I growled. "It was a mistake to leave her with you, I should have dealt with her myself. I was angry and my judgement was clouded."

"What's wrong with you, Aro? Before she turned up, you wouldn't have had a problem with it. Hell, you'd have joined in. You're going soft, brother."

"I presume I am correct then, brother?" Marcus interrupted us before we could start an argument. I sighed.

"Yes." I admitted, finally taking a seat.

"I really don't see why it had anything to do with us..." Caius muttered.

"She's pregnant." I said blatantly. That got their attention. The two of them just looked at me for a moment, unsure what to say. Caius was first to speak.

"So...you..." He paused, trying to word it properly. "and her..."

"Me and her...what?" I questioned, not understanding his meaning. He rose an eyebrow, waiting for me to catch on. My eyes widened in realisation. "No!" I exclaimed, rather disturbed. "No, no, no it's not mine. Heavens, no! How could you think I would have?"

"Why not? I would have. Granted, the odds of her surviving the night would be slim, but that's not the point."

"Yes, well, thankfully, I'm not you. No, it was a human she knew before she came here. It wasn't...voluntary."

"Again, slightly confused as to why I'm here. Why are you telling me this?" Caius shifted impatiently, no doubt wanting to enjoy the rest of his evening.

"What on earth am I going to do?" I really had no clue what to do with her - or it.

"Isn't it obvious? Get rid of it."

"I can't." I stated.

"Of course you can." Caius exclaimed. "Abort it. Assist her in a miscarriage. It's not difficult."

"I know how to, you idiot. But she wants to keep it. I can't destroy it if she wants to keep it."

"You're not actually serious are you? What do you plan to do when she has the child? We can't have a human baby living in the castle. Have you lost your immortal mind?"

"No. Yes. I don't know! I'm so confused." I ran my hands though my hair in frustration. What was wrong with me?

"Listen to me, Aro." Caius spoke sternly. "I have no idea what has come over you, but you cannot allow her to have that baby. It's completely unrealistic! Aside form that, how long do you plan on keeping her human? You need to either kill her or change her, and it needs to happen soon. Personally, I don't see what addition she could possibly be to us - there doesn't seem to be anything special about her - but if you're adamant to have her around, she needs to be one of us. Get a hold of yourself, get rid of the baby, and get her under control - one way or another. Now, I'm going to go the tower to visit Athenodora and Sulpicia. Yes, Sulpicia - that's your wife, remember? The one you haven't spoken to in about a month. Good night, Aro." Caius rose from his seat and fled the room with out another word. There was silence for a moment.

"Well. Marcus, have you anything to add to our brothers ever so helpful advice?" Caius didn't know anything. He didn't understand.

"In a way, I agree he has made some very valid points." He held his hand up as I began to protest. "It is true that you need to be realistic with having humans present in the castle, and that you need to deal with Sulpicia. However, it is also true you need to consider your relationship with Cassandra-"

"What relationship?!" I interrupted. "She hates me. All she wants is to get out of here! But I can't let her do that."

"Why not?" He questioned. Had he lost his mind? Wasn't it obvious?

"You know why! To do so would be to go against the Volturi, against my own laws. I couldn't possibly, it would cause an outrage."

"We both know that's not the reason, Aro. Not the real one. Why can't you allow her to leave? Aside from the law, which you could bend if you so wished?"

"Because..." I trailed off.

"Come now, Aro. It is not often you are speechless."

"Because I want her here. Because I am selfish and inconsiderate and cruel - and that was absolutely fine until I met her. I didn't care. I was proud of it, known and feared for it and I liked it that way. And then she turned up and suddenly it wasn't okay. Because every time I am cruel to her I feel awful and I hate myself for it. She makes me feel so...she just makes me feel. And I despise her for it."

"You despise because you love her. You love her because she is your mate. She makes you feel vulnerable and weak, and that is not a feeling you are used to."

"I don't love her." I stated. Of course I didn't. How could he be so ridiculous?

"Then kill her." I was taken aback by his blunt words.

"W-What?"

"You say she causes you so much grief, that you despise her. That she makes your life difficult. If this is true, and you do not love or have any feelings for her, and she will not be of any addition to our ranks, kill her. Make your life easier."

"I-I can't do that...She's done nothing wrong."

"She's attempted escape from the Volturi, I am sure that would be enough to justify it."

"I...I can't. I just can't." I admitted.

"Because she is your mate. You love her. Stop denying it, I can see the bond between the two of you. Do you doubt my gift? Has it failed you in the past? I think you'll find it hasn't." I put my head in my hands. What was going on with me?

"No, Marcus. It hasn't." I sighed. "Forgive me, but how exactly is this solving any of my problems?"

"I am not here to solve your problems, Aro. Only you can do that. I am here to make you realise what you already know, and perhaps help you to see everything in a somewhat clearer light." Marcus amazed me. He rarely speaks, yet when he does, he seems to know everything.

"And this helps me how, exactly?"

"Okay. Let us start again. How do you feel for Sulpicia?"

"I...I find myself with little interest in her nowadays. She bores me, and I don't particularly enjoy her company. I...I do not wish for her to be my wife. Maybe...there might have been something once, but there's not now. Or maybe there never was anything. I don't know."

"Now how do you feel for Cassandra?" That was a good question. How did I feel about Cassandra? "Speak your mind, Aro. Describe how you feel about her. "

"When I first saw her, I just felt...intrigued. I don't know why, but I wanted to know more about her. About her life, her personality, just her in general. I could see that her friend was going to cause problems here, and frankly, he just irritated me. So I proposed to get rid of him. But then I realised how closely attached to him she was, and how far she was prepared to go to keep him alive. I couldn't kill him, she would never forgive me. And for some reason, that mattered to me. So instead, I used him to keep her under control. I had to show her that I was in charge now, and that she would have to adapt to that. When I saw that she was unwilling to accept that, I was angry.

"She denied what was plain to the eye, it was illogical. I forced her see what I was by making her watch me feed. I tortured a woman and then drained her, and told Cassandra if she didn't watch I'd do it again until she did. I thought little of it at the time, but now I can't believe I subjected her to that. Over the next few weeks, I tried to build trust with her, and I think it was working until the other day when Caius suggested I had feelings for my little human. I was outraged, how could he think such a thing? So I left to prove that I didn't care about her at all. I was cruel to her again, I shattered any trust she had built up with me, and I hated myself for it afterwards. But at the same time, I hated her for it. She was the one doing this, this was her fault. How could one girl have such an effect on me? Everything was fine until she appeared. But still, I regretted my actions later.

"I tried to make it up to her - made her breakfast and let her out of her room. But when I returned, she was gone. And so were the humans. I haven't been as angry as I was then since...I can't even remember. I was furious. I had made so many exceptions for her, and this was how she repaid me? I dragged her back to the castle and realised I couldn't deal with her at that time, I couldn't even bear to look at her. She had betrayed me, lied to me. She had rejected me, and I hated how that made me feel. I wanted to make her hurt as much as she had hurt me, so I gave her to Caius and let him deal with her.

"Of course, I regret this now. I have done since I dared to come back into the castle and could hear her screams. I 'll never forget the way she looked at me when I saw her in that room. But I was still angry with her. I despised the effect she had on me, and I took it out on her. Blamed her for it, for everything. I yelled at her, told her it was her own fault. When I read her mind and discovered she was pregnant, I lost it. I don't know how long I spent ranting at her, but after a while, she lost it too. She told me how she was feeling - how I had made her feel. What I'd done to her. She told me to kill her and get it over with. Where can I go from that, Marcus? She wants to runaway, or die. I can't let her do either of those things." Again, Marcus said nothing for several moment. Even I was surprised at what I had said - a lot of things I hadn't dared to admit to myself.

"Brother, you made a huge mistake yesterday. You must fix it. Listen to me when I say that if she dies, then you will have no will to survive. You do not know it yet, and you do not appreciate it because your bond is still strengthening. You must realise that the longer you try to deny it, the longer you try to blame it all on this girl, the more you will suffer for it later. You've known her for only a month and you are already feeling this guilt for what you've done to her and in time this will eat you up. The guilt will devour you. She will forgive you, and she will trust you in time. But you must be consistent with her and stop pushing her away. She was born to love you, but that doesn't mean you can't lose her. Like it or not, you need her, Aro."

"What if I don't want to need her!" I snapped. In what reality should I have to be dependant on a human for anything other than food? "What if I liked my life before she became apart of it?" Marcus sighed, shaking his head.

"Just when I think I'm getting through to you, you revert back you usual stubborn self. Whether you were happy with out her before or not, trust me, you will not be happy with out her anymore. She will be going through a similar confusion, although I should think that her thoughts at the moment would be based around why she is attracted to a man who has caused her so much pain."

"Okay." I gave up. "I will...try to think more before I act when around her, and try to put myself in her position. But what of the child? And Sulpicia?"

"As for Sulpicia, I think she suspects you are unhappy with your relationship as you've made no effort to see her in a month. However, you must go to her and speak with her at some point. Regarding your human's unborn child, I believe what is meant to be will be. If she is meant to have this child, she will have it and we will go from there. If not, then we haven't got a problem. Let nature take it's own course. If your are correct that she wants to keep it, you cannot force her to get rid of it. It will damage her more than she already is." I thought to myself for a moment, pondering his advice. I wasn't sure whether I agreed with it, but I didn't seem to have any better ideas, and Marcus usually knew what he was talking about.

"Caius isn't going to like this plan." I commented.

"No." Marcus replied. "But since when has this stopped you from doing things in the past?"

"Point taken." I got up heading towards the door. "I've left her with Chelsea, so I suppose I'd better get back to her." I paused at the door when he didn't reply. "Thank you, Marcus. I do appreciate this.

"I know how it feels to think that no one else understands how you feel. And I know how it feels to lose a mate. I wouldn't wish it upon anyone." I felt like he had just twisted a knife in my heart.

"I miss her too." I commented truthfully. He would never know I did it. Some things are better left unsaid. I wasn't lying when I said I missed her, but it had to be done. My thirst for power overruled all other feelings, and I knew that was a big part of why I couldn't let myself love Cassandra. Love was a weakness, and it could be used against me. I didn't want her to become that weakness. But apparently, I didn't have a choice in these matters.

Hello, my readers :) Okay, so there wasn't much action in this chapter, but we got a fair bit of insight into the mind of Aro. What do we think of his thoughts? Hope you all liked it, we'll get to see some more of Cassandra next time :) Until then,
Scarlett