A/N: Ask and ye shall receive, hot damn! MorningStar, NeverOneToSmile, Larcian, STARR, and HermioneandMarcus, thank you all so very, very much :) Ok, I'm going to reply to you all individually, cuz I really want to get this chapter out there, so just some quick notes:
MorningStar: I feel like Blaise is constantly trying to fit in with a predominantly English/ American-Slang society that she's involved in now, as a young, practicing witch, so she tends to over do it sometimes. You'll see more of her and Casper in other chapters with them at the larger school and interacting with other students
Larcian: Thank you for the Marcus/Ana comment, because you helped me make up my mind on that part of the plot :)
And just some general: This chapter will explain some more of the supernatural aspect of the story, while bringing up some new questions, cuz that's how I do. Also, not so much romantic relationship development here, but I did delve into the horror-story that is Jane of the Volturi and her mind a little bit towards the end, so that was fun.
Anyway, keep reviewing because it really does help! Now I know what do with Marcus and Ana and I have the ever-needed reminder that this isn't just a romance story and that I need to develop an interesting plot. Seriously, I always get lost in the romance and lose everything else... If you don't keep telling me that, we're probably going to lose some serious substance to this story...
Day 33,
Alec came by yesterday to start lessons. That all went well and fine. It was a little frightening in the beginning, I was bombarded with these cravings…cravings for his approval, his attention, his touch….I guess I have a crush on the vampire boy. I've never really had a crush before, not one like this. I think that's because I've never been too open before. My entire life was orbiting around my mother and step-father. They're no longer a daily concern for me, so I have to fill my time in other ways. In googely-eyed, giggely, butterflies in my tummy ways. Fabulous. Lesser of the two evils, I presume.
Blaise and Casper tried to drug me and Laviana yesterday. I went to get a sip of tea and it tasted like garbage. Like they had somehow liquefied a tree and mixed the wood in with the tea. It was incredibly sharp, as well, and had an alcoholic after-taste. Or, what I assume alcohol would taste like. I think I've had enough experience with my alcoholic parents to be able to make that assumption.
Laviana is returning to herself, thank God. She's still a bit damper, but at least there's emotion, no matter how negative it seems to be.
Agatha cracked her neck and fell backwards, lying on her soft bed. Silver eyes gazed out the far window, watching buckets of rain fall from the grey sky and bathe the already lush, green grass. A swift, cold draft cut through the slightly opened window and brushed the witch's skin. Her mind went to Alec.
He was chilled like the fall days that have overtaken the seasonal calendar of recent. His hair was the most beautiful milk chocolate color and it looked just so soft…she almost swore she was beginning to recognize him from somewhere, but it couldn't be placed just where.
The straggled meow of the single most cursed feline on the entirety of the planet broke through Aggie's wandering thoughts.
With an exaggerated eye-roll and an internalized groan, Agatha closed her journal and rolled off of her bed, shuffling towards the door. She swung it open and glared at the maker of hideous noise. The giant ball of fur darted into her room and under her bed; and before she had a chance to fetch it out, a voice called to her.
"Agatha Beckenridge," An unknown male voice called from a few steps down the hall. Her heart skipped and her eyes widened, her entire body tingling with frightening anticipation of danger. Fight or flight was kicking in.
She slowly exited her room, closing the door behind her. Four walls would do her no good if she needed to escape. Two doors down, a man stood. His suit was crisp white, as was his hair. His eyes…his eyes were the most terrifying thing about him. She hated too-light eyes, which was difficult for someone with silver eyes. The story goes: Back home there was a big, mean dog on her street that was nearly blind. When she was walking home from school one day, the beast hopped the fence. She saw light blue, then teeth, then blood. Not a pleasant memory.
"Ms. Beckenridge," The mendacious man began as Aggie turned to face him fully, "I am an Adroit. I have been sent to retrieve you."
Retrieve? That sounded peculiarly unpleasant. She stepped back.
"It would be better not to fight, Ms. Beckenridge." He said calmly as he approached her retreating form. She took another step back and weighed her options.
The hall was a dead-end. Her only choice there would be to go out the four-story-high window that overlooked the cliff-ledge. Solid. And that was completely disregarding the fact that the window was teeny tiny. No chance she could fit through it. Alright, option two: run. Where? Down the hall? He was in the way. Running down the hall meant running by him, and running by him meant he could catch her. Nope, not happening. So what now?
He moved closer, her jaw clenched. There was a third option of how to deal with the untrustworthy stranger cornering her and trying to snatch her up. A long shot, a dummy shot, if anything. But it was her only shot.
Her heart beat faster and her throat trembling in anticipation. He moved closer. She rubbed her lips together. Closer. Her back was against stone. Her mouth sprung open.
~8~
Laviana scribbled cliff-notes into another archive book when a blood-curdling scream ripped through the castle. She tossed the ancient book aside and bolted out of the library, sprinting through the castle, towards where she knew the only other person was. Quickly, she was illuminate in a soft yellow and appeared at the staircase at the end of Agatha's hall. She darted up the spiral, stone-wall in-cased steps and into the hall. At the end of the corridor was a white suit.
Rage erupted within her, brimming the top of annoyance capacity. One of the doorways at the end of the hall was covered in a black energy field. Hands formed from the field and reached out to the Adroit, grabbing his arms and pulling him back. A terrified and tearful Agatha rose from where she had fallen to the floor and sprinted to her savior, wrapping her arms tightly around the older woman's waist. Laviana hugged her back before moving the young girl behind her protectively. The Adroit looked at the two.
"If you ever touch her," The red-headed witch growled, "I swear to everything spanning the existence of good and evil, I will end you."
The man seemed unintimidated. "It is not a matter of choice. You know that. You broke the rules. Your wrong must be righted."
"And just who has deemed this to be wrong?" She hissed, "Has the Collegium reviewed the case, or have they just mixed this in with every other? Special cases deserve special attention, Sir Disciple. Or was the avoidable horror of the Freegards' case all for not?"
The man stiffened at the Old-English surname.
"I will bring your argument to the Collegium," The man said emotionlessly, "You will be contacted at a later time. Now if you please…"
The black energy dissipated and the man took his arms back, smoothing out his white jacket before disappearing.
Laviana quickly turned herself and Agatha around, ushering the trembling girl down the stairs.
"She's safe here," Caius said, "The Adroits are terrified of vampires. Not a single one of them would attempt to retrieve her so long as she stays here."
Laviana nodded, "I'm going to make Blaise and Casper board at the school. The faculty will make sure no one tries to use them as leverage."
"Good, good," Aro commented, lost in his thoughts, "Now, are you sure the Collegium will pay mind to Agatha's circumstances?"
She nodded, "Yes. They're not stupid, this is just how they work. It's up to whomever they question to fight back. It's all about efficiency for them, and for good reason. If it's worth the fight, it's worth their time. I just have to wait for someone to contact me and I can go from there."
"Until that happens," Marcus began, "She will remain in our care. And Ana, please don't do anything reckless."
The copper haired woman rolled her eyes, "I'm not an invalid, Marcus. I know you've had some recent run-ins with less-than-spectacular examples of intelligence in terms of those you govern, but I am neither an anarchist nor a saber rattler."
"I never said you were," He defended calmly, "I simply am warning you to remember that. I don't want your attachment to Agatha to cloud your judgement. You won't do any good in protecting here if you turn into a warmonger."
"What do you think I am? An ancient Hun warrior? Why, thank you so much for that positively darling compliment." The agitated woman hissed.
The tension in the normally tame vampire rose. "I didn't say that..." He growled through clenched teeth.
"You called me a warmonger!" The flustered witch yelled, her Irish accent lacing her words in a new thickness, "What kind of bloody image do you think that brings to mind, ya' feckin' gobdaw!"
"Enough!" A feminine voice shrieked. The four adults turned to where a frowzy and disconcert young woman sat upon a fainting couch, her slight body being swallowed whole by a large, black jacket. Her silver eyes were hard and glaring holes into the two bickering adults. The anger swarming around her was almost tangible, but shattered easily when her small body started wracking with coughs.
Aro rushed to the young girl's side as she couched violently into her fist. The scent of blood- sugar cookies and pinewoods, specifically- caught through the room.
"Jane!" Caius called out the closed doors, knowing that the young vampire was listening in as she always did. The door opened and the small brunette entered.
"Take Agatha and make her something hot to drink."
Though riddled with distaste at the thought of being with the girl that so easily swiped her brother's affections, Jane followed her Master's orders and led the girl out.
Once the adults were alone, the conversation started up once again.
"How do you plan to present your case if requested to do so?" Caius asked a now calmer Laviana.
The witch began to pace, considering just how she would open, argue and close. "I would make point of the necessary grey area within any existence of rule and how it needs to be accounted for. I would then explain to them the life and subsequent death that they would be sending her back to. Finally, I would close by reminding them of the Freegard incident."
The three vampires in the room froze at the mention of the atrocity.
"That should work." Caius noted quietly, still overtaken by the horror of the Freegard case. Laviana nodded and swiftly left the room, leaving the her three companions in stunned silence.
~8~
Jane mixed the tea while the young witch in the kitchen with her tried to silence her coughs. Her already over-the-top animosity for the creature grew greater and greater with each muffled sound of distress, the vampire girl twitching along with the coughs. She couldn't hurt the witch, though. No, she'd get in trouble with her Masters, Laviana and Alec. Three strikes and she's out. So the pathetic creature got to continue annoying her. Bitch.
The girl's coughs subsided for a time, though her sleeve-covered hand remained clasped over her mouth. Short, shaky breaths were inhaled through her pale nose.
"Here." Jane spat as she placed a cup of hot tea in front of the quivering girl. Agatha sipped the drink and signed 'Thank You' to the vampire, who just rolled her eyes in contempt if the evidence of her brother's infatuation.
A knock on the counter brought Jane's attention back to the witch.
Who are they? She signed slowly, as though unsure of what she was portraying.
"The Adroits and Collegium?" Jane questioned. The mute nodded.
Jane sighed before beginning in an improvised explanation of the complicated topic.
"The Collegium," She started, "Are like a council. There is one member of every supernatural and paranormal species on our plane of existence on the council and they are completely neutral, neither good nor evil. What they do, they do for the best of all. Their purpose is to maintain balance, because "Without balance, there is chaos". It is their goal to create a safety net, to make sure we don't get in our own ways. There was a problem a few years back, one that I'm sure you'll ask about later, that we had with members of our own kind. Our Masters were very well prepared for the Collegium to intervene. The other side was ready for war; we, for the burden of proof. Thankfully, it didn't get that far.
"The Adroits are like the puppets of the Collegium. My brother and I, as well as our friends, whom you've met, are members of The Guard, but not the actual coven of The Volturi. It is similar for the Adroits. They are many and they are organized. They are led by and follow orders of the Collegium. They do the dirty work, the work that the Collegium is too busy to handle. Like their leaders, they are neither good nor evil. Perfectly neutral."
"I personally think their suits should be grey instead of white," The vampire babbled on, "but I have been told it is that way to show absolute power. You'll notice we dress in darker colors. Nordic elves dress in light blues and purples, and wolves have a distinctive brown shade. Every species' governing body has their color, but none have pure white. "
The young witch nodded with a thoughtful looked on her face as she tried to process all of the information. She held up an index finger to the vampire, as if to say 'one more thing'. Jane waited for the girl to collect her bearings. Soon enough, the mute began spelling something.
F-r-e-e-g-a-r-d.
Jane's patience snapped. Everything in her line of sight was tinted flaming-red. Her focus was on the witch. How dare she? Who the hell did she think she was?
The child was silent, but her body language wasn't. Her eyes were wide in shock, her muscle tense in pain, her body quaking with tremors. Yes, suffer. She needs to suffer, she needs to learn. Learn her place.
Claws dug into Jane's neck from behind. The lesson was interrupted. The red tint to the world dissipated. Jane was being dragged out of the kitchen by her neck.
The one who held her tossed her through the open door and to the stone floor of the hallway. Before she had time to gather herself, they grabbed her throat once more and lifted her. The teenage vampire looked at the blazing eyes of her most beloved master. The milky haze did nothing to disguise the burning rage that smoldered in the sea of red.
"Just what was that, my dear?" The centuries old vampire hissed lowly.
"She-"
"I don't give a damn what she did or did not do." His grip on her neck tightened, sending small cracks radiating from his hand, "She is mortal, Jane. And our ally! You could have killed her, you flaming imbecile. Do you understand?"
Jane didn't respond, only looked away in shame. She tried intently to not focus on her fuming master. She counted the stone tiles on the floor. She watched a stranger dart by and into the kitchen before catching the scent. Alec.
"And a witch, Jane. A witch." Aro continued on in his terrifying rage, "You know they are at greater risk with your gift. What could have possibly been so enraging that you risked killing someone we've distinctively told you not to touch?"
She maintained her rueful silence and accompanying pout, knowing full well that her actions were not justified for one of 1200 years.
"Very well," Aro responded to her silence in a disturbingly monotone voice. He released her cracking neck and turned his back on the girl, "Keep yourself out of my sight until further notice. I am too disappointed to look at you."
With such, he left. The perpetual thirteen year-old watched her surrogate father leave her before she dashed through the corridors. She bolted into her private room, using the functionally useless lock on the door to signal the desire to be left alone. The child tore off her Volturi crest and cloak, throwing each aside as she ripped her hair from its up-do and shredded her tights before kicking off her shoes. Falling onto her rather useless bed, Jane curled into herself as she began to be overtaken. Overtaken by the horrible knowledge that she had hurt an innocent person, the knowledge that, in effect, she hurt her brother, the knowledge that she disappointed the one person she had always strived so hard to impress. All she had ever wanted was the love of a family- the love she never knew. And now, through her own selfish and downright immoral actions, she ostracized the two people she could count on to give her that love.
She had hurt an innocent, she hurt her brother, and she hurt her master. No one will ever love her, now.
A/N: Chapter Song: Carnival of Rust by Poets of the Fall
"It's all a game, avoiding failure, when true colors will bleed
All in the name of misbehavior and the things we don't need
Yeah, feed the rain
'cause without your love my life ain't nothing but this carnival of rust"