A/N: I just wanted to give you guys a heads up that there will be translations in this chapter, but don't worry about going to Google translate, as there will be English translations towards the end.
Speaking of Google Translate – I only know English and therefore any sentences in another language were given to me by the Internet… so no judgments please!
Chapter 11 – Truth
Castiel was sitting very close to Marcus now, huddling next to him with the hope that his body would be able to shield her from the wind that was now blowing through the garden. Marcus was disappointed he could not offer her any warmth, since he did not have any body heat to begin with, but was happy he could at least offer her some protection from the breeze.
The gears that had been turning in Castiel's head had come to a standstill as she processed what he said – since the implication in his words could only mean one thing.
"So you're telling me," It was plainly obvious in her voice that she was stunned, "That someone here imprinted… on me." She stared down the little stone path they had come through from her spot next to Marcus, feeling as though the moment was so surreal it could only be a dream.
"Who?" She gasped, knowing it was a pointless question. She already knew the answer to deep down – she didn't need Marcus' bond sight to tell her what the truth was. Everything suddenly made sense – how protective he was of her, how much he cared about her from the very beginning without knowing a thing about her, and what she had done to him that day in the throne room.
Marcus was quiet as he waited for her to speak, knowing she would come to the realization on her own and simply needed a moment to process it all. But as the minutes dragged on the silence only became more deafening, causing his insides to twist uncomfortably in worry.
"You. You imprinted on me didn't you?" She looked up at him, angling her body so she could look him full in the face, and he was relieved to see that she didn't look upset or angry. He had been expecting fear, or for her to feel as if he had been betraying her trust the whole time he had been getting to know her, so her overall calmness made it easier for him to reply.
"I did." He paused, "The moment I saw you everything made sense Castiel… You remember what I told you of my gift? About the differences in bonds and their strengths?"
Castiel nodded quickly, and even though when she was stressed she had trouble remembering things, she really hadn't forgotten a single word. His gift was fascinating to her, and when he had explained it to her in the library she was absolutely enraptured. His gift was extraordinary; it was like a beautiful and complicated instrument that only he was the master of – which made it very hard to forget.
He exhaled loudly, "Dearest I've been bonded to you since the day you were born."
And all the thoughts that were now racing through her mind – the ones that were trying to really drill into her how much of a big deal this all was – came to a screeching halt again. Marcus could tell he had her complete undivided attention now, as she was no longer being distracted by her thoughts, and lifted their entwined hands so he could place a soft kiss on her knuckles.
She did not pull away, and actually seemed to move just a little closer to him. Both of them were staring at their entwined fingers as he began to explain.
"Bonds between people only ever form when the two of them meet, and I had never seen an exception to that rule until the day of your birth. I was in the council room with my brothers when I felt a tug, which seemed to come from my very heart. I had nearly fallen out of my chair when my family had come to help."
"A bond had sprung from me to an unknown source. It was powerful – completely unbreakable and pure white. It was one of the most obvious bonds I had – just as strong as those to my family, but completely undecided. My brothers and sisters tried to help me figure out what it was but we were at a loss, as I said I had never once seen a bond with an unknown recipient. We researched for a month as to what it could be – and Athenadora came up with the idea it could be imprinting since imprinting is so rare for vampires. It was a good suggestion, so we summoned one of our scholars who had given us much assistance in the past in documenting information about our species. However, Omar claimed it was probably not imprinting, since imprinting only happened when a vampire laid eyes on their imprint…"
"And so we ignored the bond after that. It was always present but I hadn't felt it again for over twenty years. It was certainly a mystery but, since it was inactive, it became a nonissue."
Marcus smiles strangely then, as if he were looking at something she couldn't see. "But then the day came that your friend Ajmer traveled too close to our city, and Alec bought him in for questioning. That was how Aro found out about you, a gifted human who knew a secret they were forbidden to know. So in the weeks that followed Aro summoned your other friends in for questioning, and you can't imagine our surprise at how much all these vampires cared for you, and begged us not to harm you."
"And harming you was never an intention, my brother had a reason to spare your life from the moment he saw Ajmer's thoughts so he took it. When Demetri and Felix to retrieve you… I began to feel more alive than I have felt in so many years."
"I was so angry with Aro for his intention on making you a guard. I was angry he was taking away what I felt was your free will and I didn't know a single thing about you. I was irrational – Aro had never intended to take away your will, and had always planned to give you a choice but… but I was just so ungodly protective of you – a little human whom I had never met."
"When Demetri and Felix took you – at least I'm assuming it was at that same moment – the bond that connected me to you tugged at my heart again. I know now that it was calling for me to protect you, telling me to do something to help you – to save you from whatever it was that was making you so scared."
"For mating bonds do that. It is a defense mechanism to keep the more…" He hesitate, not wanting to use the word submissive incase it offended her, "Fragile partner safe. It calls to the strongest of the pair to provide protection and safety, and in every mating pair there is one dominant vampire, whom is usually the male, who is responsible for doing such."
"Before you arrived – when Demetri and Felix had you on the plane – my family was trying to decide who was going to mentor you while you were here if you did chose to join us. Caius suggested that I be the one to mentor you, as it was obvious to my family how protective I was of you. Not to mention Athenadora felt that I would be more sympathetic to your feelings than any guard we could assign to you… I believe that originally, they wanted me to care for you because you seemed to be bringing me back to myself – even if the reason for such was completely unknown."
"I had agreed to mentor you, to teach you and protect you before you had ever set foot in our castle. And when you arrived before us I was so distracted, the bond was tugging at me, trying to pull me forward and I felt that it was simply going to drive me insane. And then…"
He glanced down at her.
"And then – you cried out. I know Aro startled you when he pulled you closer as he read your thoughts – he does get a little careless when he's fascinated with things – and I looked into your eyes. I didn't remember ever standing from my chair, I didn't remember walking toward you, and I don't think I made any conscious decisions from the moment you were bought before us."
"Everything in my world shifted when I saw you Castiel. The bond I had never understood became so bright I thought I would go blind; very bond I had ever had was nothing to me anymore – the bonds of my family were still prominent but dull in comparison to you one I had to you."
"You became my gravity sweet one. You became the soul that I never had and the sun that I had never seen. Nothing on this Earth matters to me more than you."
Castiel was gripping his hand tightly; this declaration of eternal commitment was very intense and a bit frightening. In response to her death grip on his fingers he gave her hand a small squeeze of encouragement but remained silent to give her time to collect her thoughts.
But after a few moments he felt the need to speak, needing to make sure she understood, "You're so much more than a mate to me Castiel, and I understand this can all feel very confusing-,"
"Please," She interrupted, knowing what he was going to say, "Please don't apologize, just... I'm so happy that you've told me the whole truth… but I… give me a minute please."
She concentrated very hard on her breathing, closing her eyes for calm when she realized that now was the time she got some very important information off of her chest.
"I've never been in a relationship before Marcus, and all this affection just terrifies me. I have no experience with this sort of thing… there's no way I can ever life up to your expectations. I can't be what you want me to be – I just don't know how."
Her inexperience when it came to relationships was only part of her worry, the second reason for her nervousness came from the fact that Marcus had been married before, and must have had other sexual partners in the thousands of years he was alive.
For fucks sake she was just a virgin who had never been on even a real date in her life. And being an inexperienced virgin wasn't even the worst part; the worst part was that she was a scared virgin. She always shied away from pain – and from what she had heard while growing up losing your virginity was really painful apparently; which was one of the core reasons she had never had sex before then. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to.
This was too much, it was too stressful, and there was just no way-
Castiel had thought her panic was confined to her head, and therefore hadn't realized that her heart was racing or she was hyperventilating until Marcus had taken her face in both of his palms, gently tilting her head to look at him.
"Dearest, please relax. Take a deep breath." His voice was strong and steady, helping keep her grounded as she reached up and gripped his wrists, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter – screwing her face in concentration as she tried to focus on her breathing.
"In and out." He repeated this phrase to her a few times until she calmed down, and he released her face so he could grab her trembling hands.
"It's okay Castiel." Marcus' tone was soothing, and she couldn't resist the urge to lean forward and rest her forehead on his chest. His hands released hers so he could gently rub her back now, while the other came to gently cup the back of her head.
"I'm sorry," She whispered, and he hushed her.
"I know how intimidating my age can be dearest. There has never been a vampire-to-human imprinting before so this is not something common. You have nothing to be afraid of, and I assure you my experience will only prove to be a good thing in the long run. With everything I know it only makes me more able to keep you safe… more able to take care of you."
Castiel could here a double implication in his words, understanding that he meant taking care of her in a more… physical way as well.
"And the very suggestion that you aren't good enough for me dearest…" Marcus shook his head with a disbelieving sigh, and she moved slowly out of his embrace so she could look at his face again, "Is nearly laughable. You are the most perfect being in the world to me."
Castiel felt her face heat up at his words, as she was completely unused to such sweetness and praise.
"We have all the time in the world you know," he continued, his eyes soft pools of deep burgundy "I promise I will never push you into something you are not ready for. We can take this a slow as you'd like – there is no rush."
Unable to help herself, she gave a small laugh, "So I guess we're going steady?"
Hearing her joking tone was a relief to him, but the intensity in her eyes conveyed the true seriousness of her words.
"Of course." It was hard for him to keep the relief out of his voice, because with that very simple phrase Castiel confirmed that she would try, and all he needed was for her to try. If she could be open-minded about their bond he could court her, so this was the greatest relief he had felt in a long time.
Castiel was nervous about so many things, and knew she would have to open up about her insecurities to him eventually – her insecurities about relationships, herself, her gift, and even sex – but she just couldn't right now.
And before either of them could say another word a gust of wind stronger than any before blew through the garden. And with the wind came a steady trickle of snow flurries, and as much as Marcus knew Castiel loved the snow he saw that she was in no way dressed for this weather.
"Let's get you inside," He said as he watched as the snow began to stick to her red hair "It's only going to get colder out and I don't want you to get sick."
Together they stood, Castiel taking Marcus' arm as he led her from the garden and back to the castle. Once they had entered the doors though, something caught her attention that she had forgotten about earlier.
"Marcus?"
"Hm?" He hummed, looking down at her curiously, his crest moving so that she could plainly see it on the center of his chest.
"I noticed before but I forgot about it… Our crests are the same? Mine looks nothing like the guards – I noticed the day Afton gave it to me that mine was completely different but figured I was overthinking it. Does it mean something?" she questioned, grabbing her own necklace with her free hand to move it closer to his own – the two identical gems at the bottom of the crests glittering slightly in the light from the candelabras they passed.
Marcus glanced down at their necklaces before looking away guiltily, sighing as he nodded in validation. "Yes, the only ones with crests like these are my brothers and sisters. The crests Athenadora and Sulpicia wear match their mates."
"And mine matches yours." She confirmed, "I'm guessing the guards know the significance, and all probably knew before even I did what was going on between us? It would explain why Shaun was so scared after he tried to attack me."
Marcus' gaze darkened, his expression icy, as he stared ahead, "Don't remind me."
The rage was obvious in his voice, and Castiel gave his arm a light tug, her silent way of telling him to relax.
"But that's…" She couldn't think of a nicer way to say it and continued without pause, "A little fucked up you know. You made some kind of claim to me without my consent."
To her surprise Marcus looked down at her, his eyes had become a very dark shade of red all the sudden, making them look almost black around the irises. She remembered him explaining vampire instincts to her and knew that this was an indication of a more carnal side of his nature appearing.
"Watch your mouth little one," he scolded, his voice taking a husky tone that stirred something unfamiliar within her. And considering their age, Castiel figured they must not approve of cursing in the Volturi – she had only heard Afton curse once, and remembered the woman in the throne room (either Athenadora or Sulpicia, she wasn't sure) glaring at Caius when he cursed. But she really didn't need Marcus to reprimand her for her language, because cursing wasn't acceptable in her father's house either, so she should have known better.
"You were mine the moment I set eyes on you Castiel," He said bluntly, leading her up a set of stairs, "I'm fine with us taking this as slowly as you'd like, but I simply wouldn't be able to handle it if another man put his hands on you."
She rolled her eyes at him, "Marcus it's not like anyone was trying to get with me in the, what… four days I've been here?"
"You truly have no idea how beautiful you are do you Castiel?" His eyes were undeniably dark now, and she knew that she was blushing. Of course she found him attractive and knew he must have found her attractive as well, but the outright way he stated it was unexpected.
"Trust me, more guards than I would have liked were thinking about you in exactly that way. There's nothing that goes on in this castle that we don't know about… and there's nothing you can hide from Aro." Marcus grumbled, "I knew the moment I saw you that being subtle wouldn't get through the thick skulls of some of our younger guards. Making an obvious claim was the only way I could be sure that no one would try to mess with you."
Castiel suddenly felt very shy, and found that she was a little relieved that Marcus had done what his did – she couldn't imagine how stressed out she would have been if she had had to fight off the attentions of not just horny boys but horny vampire boys. She preferred being left alone, and with how anxious and slightly depressed she had been feeling, having to deal with unwanted advances might have made her snap.
"Thanks." She said softly, and Marcus knew she was thanking him for his honesty rather than his staking his claim to her.
He smiled down at her, and Castiel was surprise to see his eyes had only lightened a little bit – his iris' were still closer to black than red.
"Are you thirsty?"
She didn't know why she asked, maybe she was just curious about why his eyes still seemed to be nearly black, the slight sexual tension from moments before having already gone – and she felt very embarrassed to realize that it was, in fact, sexual tension in Marcus' voice when he scolded her for her language – so his eyes should have been bright red again.
"It's not pressing," he said honestly, guiding Castiel down a hall to their right rather than the halls they had come from, choosing to take her to the library rather than back to Afton. His brothers would unfortunately just have to deal with him skipping out on trials again today – he wanted to spend time with Castiel to see how she would act now that she knew she was his imprint, because now that she knew he would not have to tip toe around her anymore.
Marcus hadn't fed in almost three weeks, which was longer than he usually waited between feeding. In only a couple more days his eyes would be pitch black regularly, so he would have to be sure to feed when Heidi bought another tour the coming weekend.
Almost a month without feeding and here he was trying to spend time with his very human mate – it was so very stupid and reckless of him. Of course he would never harm a hair on her head, and he was confident that he could go a year without feeding and Castiel would still be safe from that side of him, but it didn't change the fact that he should be trying to feed weekly now. He needed to be at the top of his game, need to be sure he was always as strong as possible to make up for his imprint's fragility.
Once they were back in the library – each of them finding their places in their usual spots by the fire – Marcus removed his suit jacket, pushed his sleeves up to his elbows again and released the top two buttons of his shirt. He was welcoming the warmth of the flames on his skin so he could appear warmer to the sweet little human across from him.
Castiel grabbed her book from the side table – which someone had dog-eared in the place she left off – and Marcus ran his fingers through his hair before leaning forward to grab his own book, which was on the floor by his feet.
This wouldn't have affected Castiel in any way if Marcus' movement hadn't sent a very pleasant smell in her direction. The smell of cinnamon, sandalwood, and campfire all mixed into one heady aroma that left her lightheaded – the same thing she had smelled in her dream last night and some of her most favorite scents.
With a start she realized that what she was smelling was Marcus' natural odor, and if he hadn't told her she was his imprint only moments ago she would have found that to be such a funny coincidence. But of course… there was no such thing as a coincidence.
"Castiel?" Marcus' soft voice broke the silence; she had been staring at him for a solid minute looking a little bemused.
"Huh?" It took her a moment before she realized she was staring at him, not only enraptured by his scent, but also just how beautiful he was – from the way his fitted dress shirt hugged every muscle on his defined torso, to his long legs, his soft looking lips and his strong jaw… he was exactly her type, and he was apparently all hers.
"Oh! Uhm..." Castiel was blushing, and Marcus found how frazzled she was at being caught staring to be very endearing. Not to mention it satisfied a very deeply male part of him that she found his body attractive, and he realized by the way her nostrils flared for a second that it was not only his looks, but also his scent that she was drawn to.
But of course he would smell as good to her as she did to him – mates always smelled the most appealing to their partners.
He gave her a very toothy smile, and Castiel realized that there was a reason she smelled him when she fell asleep.
"Wait did you... did you carry me to bed last night?" She sounded suddenly distressed, and Marcus couldn't help but tilt his head curiously as he answered her.
"Of course. I could only imagine how uncomfortable you would have been if I let you sleep in that chair all night."
That was very sweet of him, but Castiel couldn't help but feel a troubled. She sometimes had a bad habit of talking in her sleep, and if she was slightly roused while she was only more likely to start babbling. Her father had told her that when she was little he could have nearly full conversations with her while she was asleep – a few times he even asked her questions about how his day was going to go and she would be able to tell him in full detail everything that would happen.
So essentially, she could have visions when she slept – but these visions she never had any recollection of when waking. But the worst part wasn't the fact that she wouldn't know what she saw when she slept, but that she was incredibly vulnerable in her sleep due to her gift. She had no filter on what she was seeing and what she was saying… there was a risk she might even let some deep dark secret slip.
And she was praying to any and every god there was that Marcus hadn't tried talking to her when she was asleep – she had no idea what she might say.
Marcus only looked more apprehensive the longer she was silent, and apologized if he offended her at all and promised that he wouldn't touch her while she slept if it bothered her.
Figuring the best course of action was honesty, Castiel so she assured him it wasn't that he had touched her, and admitted her worries about sleep talking to him. She knew she was telling him something he could take advantage of – but hoped that since he was literally her destined partner for all eternity that he wouldn't take advantage of her. Hopefully, if she was open and honest with him and he extended the same courtesy to her, they could pursue this relationship without secrets.
Castiel realized she really was taking this whole imprinting thing very well, and couldn't help but be surprised that she wasn't at all turned off or frightened of the bond itself – after all there wasn't a thing about Marcus she didn't like thus far – she was only frightened of herself failing to live up to the expectations of it.
As the hours came and went Marcus could only think of how very blessed he was, the peaceful silence was only interrupted occasionally when Castiel had a question here and there about imprinting. Around noon Afton had arrived in the library with a tray of food for Castiel – just a simple bottle of water, a tomato and mozzarella Panini, and a small bowl of chicken noodle soup – so she moved to sit on the floor at one of the low round tables in the center of the room.
Castiel finished her food quickly, and Marcus thanked Afton as he came forward to retrieve her dishes. Afton and he had agreed they would have to watch how much she was eating, since she seemed to forget to eat at all sometimes.
But when Afton reached for the last of her dishes – the spoon she was holding out to place back on the tray – Castiel froze. Her whole posture stiffened and her hands clenched in front of her – one hand gripping the fabric of her dress on her leg and the other tightening until it was white knuckled around the spoon.
Marcus shot up from his chair in alarm as Castiel's heart rate and breathing dropped even lower than what they were when she slept. Her pupils were blown wide enough her iris' were almost nonexistent, and his first thought was that she was having some kind of seizure. Her name escaped his lips as a strangled exclamation as he dropped to his knees besides her before grabbing her face in both of his hands and turning it up towards him.
She didn't react at all – it was as if she didn't know she was being touched.
But Castiel was completely unaware of her mate's turmoil; in her own mind she wasn't even in Italy anymore.
The room she was in now was dimly lit and large, furnished with upscale leather couches and glass tables, it looked as if she were in some kind of lounge in a mansion. The walls on either side of her were covered in bookshelves, there was a grand fireplace illuminating the room from her behind her, and in the room's center were multiple black leather couches. There was even a pool table near a large window that she could only imagine overlooked a large plot of land, but she wasn't totally sure since the curtains were drawn.
In this room were a total of eight vampires, and not a single one was familiar to her. There were six men and two women, four of the men standing in pairs at two separate sets of doors – undoubtedly entrances to the room – while the remaining members lounged on the couches.
One of the men on the couches was huge – tall and muscular like Felix with a shiny bald head. The other was slighter in frame, with messy dark black hair and something regal in his posture as he leaned back to recline in his seat – the sofa moving with him as a leg rest popped into place.
The women were identical and beautiful, both fair haired and tall, looking like pale Victoria's secret models. The women were sitting together on the couch and Woman One was braiding the hair of Woman Two, both facing the men as they talked.
"Vozmozhno, nam stoit posetit' nashikh soyuznikov v Italii Nikita. My davno ne byvali u brat'yev Volturi" The bald vampire spoke in a deep voice to his smaller black haired counterpart - his accent telling Castiel that he must have been speaking Russian.
Her brow furrowed in irritation as she stepped closer to the vampires, she was in a vision after all and therefore they couldn't see her. But this hadn't happened to her before: she caught the word 'Volturi' and that the black haired man's name was Nikita – but she hadn't ever had a vision involving people who didn't even speak English.
She only felt more in the dark as Nikita responded to the bald man with a wave of his hand, before reaching into his breast pocket and taking out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one, and taking a long draw.
"Da, deystvitel'no, Rafael', vremena menyayutsya, i kazhetsya, chto vampiry bol'she chuvstvuyut, chto my bol'she ne dolzhny zhit' vtayne." "UGH!" Castiel threw her hands up in irritation, wishing she could ask one of them to speak in a language she understood. But of course doing that would be like talking to thin air. The only word she had pulled from that sentence was that the bald man's name was Raphael."Duraki" Raphael scoffed, holding out his hand as Nikita tossed the box of cigarettes and lighter to him.
Suddenly the woman who was having her hair braided spoke passionately"Konechno, oni duraki! Cheloveka tak legko pugat' i tak zhe podvergat' nasiliyu, kak my! Ikh pervym otvetom budet sbrosit' bomby, chtoby unichtozhit' nas, i oni budut unichtozhat' samikh sebya""Sestra! Spokoystviye. My posetim Volturi i pogovorim s nimi o slukhakh, kotoryye my slyshali, - ya dumayu, oni uzhe znayut, - i na korotkoye vremya. Vsegda khorosho, kogda soyuzniki sobirayutsya vmeste, ne tak li? Takim obrazom, ostal'naya chast' nashego vida napominayet, chto Volturi sokhranyayut kontrol' po opredelennoy prichine." The second women spoke in a soothing tone to her twin.Raphael turned his head and blew smoke directly at where Castiel's mental self was standing. She was paying as much attention as she could, trying to see if she could obtain any useful information about who these vampires were. They were talking about the Volturi… perhaps they were enemies and they were plotting to hurt them? Was that why she was suddenly having this vision with no concept of understanding? Because her Marcus was threatened?
Her Marcus … even in her vision-entranced state Castiel was blushing. Since when had she ever laid a claim that Marcus was hers?
Castiel's musing was interrupted as Raphael spoke again "Tak budem li my zvonit' nashim druz'yam i soobshchat' im o nashem pribytii?"Nikita responded after thinking for a moment and rubbing his chin, putting out his cigarette butt in the ashtray besides him on the glass table, "Net ya tak ne dumayu. Vy znayete, skol'ko Aro lyubit syurprizy, ne govorya uzhe o tom, chto my sluchayno udalyayemsya, pomozhet derzhat' ikh na nogakh."The way Nikita spoke hinted the end to the conversation – the conversation that Castiel couldn't understand a damn word of. She wanted to vent her frustration – she had even heard Aro's name directly, and having no clue what they were saying made her feel particularly useless. She could have freaking psychic visions and yet she was completely worthless this way.
Without warning a roaring wind echoed inside the room – though not a single vampire acted as if they heard a thing. Castiel threw her hands up to cover her ears – it was like the time Trent blasted down the highway at 90mph with all the windows down in his Honda. Her head began to pound.
With a moan of pain Castiel's eyes shot open. She couldn't see anything besides grey blurring by and her eyes burned from the harsh wind that drying them out so quickly, causing her to squeeze them shut and attempt to stand.
It surprised her when she realized she wasn't sitting on the floor in the library having some weird visionary hallucination, but that she was actually being carried. She wiggled in the pair of stone arms clutching her tightly, daring to open her eyes for another moment, only to feel an uncomfortable wave of nausea at the halls streaking by her vision.
She had never once been in a vampire's arms when they ran – she knew they were fast due to their ability to seemingly disappear from sight, but actually being along for the ride was another thing entirely. Taking a deep breath through the nose to hopefully settle her nausea and give her something to focus on besides the rushing wind in her ears, Castiel smelled the pleasant aroma that was her mate and realized he must be running with her.
"Marcus?" She mumbled feebly.
Marcus suddenly came to a nearly jolting stop, and the wind whipping at her hair stopped – the harsh sound fading.
She opened her eyes to harsh florescent lighting, causing her to groan in pain and dig the heels of her hands into her eyes – and as she did this she felt herself being laid down on a stiff cot, the sound of crinkling paper coming to her attention.
"Oh dear," Arkos' voice was alarmed "What happened?"
"I don't know," Marcus voice was hurried as he explained, "We were in the library and after her meal she suddenly went still-,"
"We think she was having some kind of seizure." Afton interrupted.
Their voices caused Castiel to drag herself up into a sitting position, this time slowly opening her eyes so she could be prepared for the harsh lights. There was obviously some kind of misunderstanding going on here – a seizure? What were they talking about?
She was in the little doctor's office she was bought to for her checkup with Arkos a couple days prior, and Afton was standing in front of the door looking relieved that she was conscious, Arkos was a few feet to her left looking for something in the cabinet, and Marcus had come to stand directly in front of her, taking her chin gently in one hand so he could look at her face more fully.
And he looked… well there was no other word for it – Marcus looked like hell.
He had been seized by nearly crippling fear when Castiel had frozen in the library – her heart rate had dropped so low he didn't think it was safe. The only conclusion he could form was that she was having a seizure, as frozen and unresponsive as she was. But he had never been around humans enough to really know what having a seizure looked like.
Marcus could do nothing more than feel so afraid, so very afraid as he tried to shake his mate into some form of consciousness without harming her, and when nothing he did worked to rush her to the doctor. Did she have some medical condition he didn't know about? Was she sick? Did he need to change her immediately so he wouldn't lose her to some human illness?
There was tightness around his eyes and a set look in his frown that displayed his internal agony very plainly for Castiel to see. She wanted that look to go away, she didn't want him to look at her like that –didn't want him to look at her as if she had just died in his arms.
"Marcus why did you bring me here?" She asked, a figurative light bulb going off in her head, "Did you – did you think I was having a seizure? Oh Marcus no. I told you I space out when I have visions, I told you that I can also lock my grip onto whatever I'm holding-,"
"Wait." Marcus ordered, holding a hand up to stop her tirade. Her words made him realize there was a possibility that he was overreacting to nothing, but it still didn't make him feel any calmer. "You were having a vision? Is that what was happening?"
She nodded slowly, and every vampire in the room let out a collective sigh of relief. Arkos stopped his rummaging and ran his hands through his hair with a nervous laugh, and Afton dropped into the chair next to the door.
"Jesus Castiel, is that what they're always like? You scared the living shit out of us kid." Afton groaned in relief, before adding a quick "Pardon my language" at Marcus' expression.
"No that isn't what they're always like but – but that's not the point!" Castiel suddenly jumped off the cot onto her feet, landing toe-to-toe with Marcus and almost bumping into his front. "Look, I had a vision that I couldn't understand – these vampires were in this room all talking about the Volturi and mentioning Aro's name. I don't know why I saw it but it might be really bad because I wasn't looking for anything."
She moved to shove passed Marcus – knowing that what she had to do was get to Aro and show him what she saw. He must know as many languages as Marcus, so maybe he could translate it!
Marcus caught her before she could move around him, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest, forcing her to still and look up at him.
"Hold on just a second little one." Marcus spoke in a calm voice, hoping to settle her sudden anxiety to get some coherent answers out of her. She seemed to be stating that the coven might be in danger, so he needed her to tell him what was going on.
"What were these vampires saying in your vision?" He asked slowly, but his lack of urgency seemed to irritate her.
"That's just it!" She snapped impatiently – they were wasting time after all. She had no idea when these vampires were arriving! And though she could check the future to find out she didn't want another overreaction and figured Aro might know something anyway – which would be faster. "I don't know. They weren't speaking a single word of English, which shows just how useful I am-,"
"Stop." Marcus voice was stern this time, causing Castiel to immediately stop talking and tilt her head curiously to the side as she studied him. She had never heard him use that tone with her – that bossy tone that, for some reason, made all her emotions settle with his order. Her whole body had calmed and stilled, her physical reaction to his words as natural as breathing – the hell was going on?
And his order hadn't been intentional: Marcus hadn't meant to use his "dominant tone" with her – he didn't even know it could work on her. A dominant tone was usually something a mate used to calm the younger or more submissive one of the pair. Most vampires rarely ever used it at all since the only time a dominant tone worked was when the other mate in the pair was a newborn – specifically a newborn.
So why did it work on her? It was very similar to an alpha male tone, causing any beta's to bend to an order – though it was limited only to mated pairs and their direct partners.
He had no time to dwell on it, and while Castiel's expression turned suddenly confused and accusatory, Marcus lifted one of his hands to brush his fingers along her scalp, silently communicating that he was sorry and that he would explain later.
Afton and Arkos were both staring at the display slightly slack jawed. Seeing a vampire and a human acting as a mated pair was shocking. Imprinting was a whole-other level of mating though – so surprises such as this should be anticipated.
"Don't talk about yourself like that. I'm sure what you saw holds substance and it is of no fault to you that you do not know any language other than English. We will speak to my brothers after Arkos checks you over."
Castiel opened her mouth to argue but Marcus' expression became suddenly stern, and as his arms tightened around her she knew there was no point in fighting with him. With a resigned sigh she muttered, "If it'll make you feel better."
He nodded gravely; only the doctor's confirmation that she was fine would make him feel better, before he lifted her by the waist and set her back on the cot.
Physical contact with Marcus was… different. Being wrapped in his arms, him lifting her by the waist, always holding her hand… these were things she was unaccustomed to. She wasn't used to being touched affectionately or intimately, so having Marcus so close was strange enough without the bereft feeling that bothered her once he let her go.
Arkos was quick much to her relief. The only thing he commented on was her increased heart rate, but since this was easily explained by her concern over what she had seen he had no problem in regarding her as completely fine. Castiel knew she would have to expand a little bit more on the intricacies her gift to Marcus later so there wouldn't be such an overreaction again, but presently her only concern was speaking to Aro.
And of course Marcus realized this, his mate's fretfulness was obvious enough in her body language unaccompanied by the fact he could feel it himself. So once Arkos gave them the okay to go, Marcus scooped Castiel into his arms, causing her to let out a startled yelp and frantically grip the front of his shirt in worry of being dropped.
He promised her that he would never drop her in a hushed tone, before running out the door that Afton was holding open.
Castiel shifted in his arms and hid her face between his bicep and chest much like she unconsciously did while asleep the previous night; but this time it was so she wouldn't be tempted to open her eyes and possibly vomit all over Marcus.
Afton followed close beside Marcus, his feather light steps no more than a whisper a few paces back. Halfway to the council room Chelsea joined them, hurrying to run alongside her mate with a worried look at Castiel's form in her Master's arms. But a reassuring look from Afton was enough to settle her worry on Castiel being hurt.
Marcus slowed once they arrived outside the council room, it hadn't taken long to get there at all, and both his guards moved ahead of him to open the towering doors after listening hard to be sure there was not currently a trial being held.
His brothers and sisters were together in the room, Sulpicia leaning over the back of Aro's throne with her arms folded, looking down at her husband while he craned his neck to whisper something in her ear. Athenadora was sitting on the arm of Caius' throne, smiling in content as her mate ran his fingers idly up and down her lower spine.
There were also about a dozen guards in the room, standing together in small groupings holding quiet conversations. Demetri and Heidi were sitting on the floor on either side of one of the small marble benches that they had moved slightly away from the wall to place a chessboard on – and by the arrangement of the pieces it looked like Heidi was winning.
Felix, Jane, Alec, Renata and Corin were also present, each standing behind the Masters' thrones on the dais.
It only took a fraction of a second for the conversations to quiet, and Aro and Caius both immediately stood in worry when they noticed Castiel in Marcus' arms. But before they, Marcus moved to the center of the room and gently set Castiel on her feet. It did take her a moment, once she was righted, to process the change of scenery and the fact she was now in the presence of nearing twenty immortals all together – though she was human so such confusion was to be expected.
Subconsciously she took a small side step closer to Marcus as her gaze found Aro's, and in response he set his left hand lightly against her lower back in encouragement, silently reassuring her that he was here to back her – from this angle his family did look rather imposing.
It was obvious by the way the two were standing that Marcus had finally told Castiel that she was his imprint, and both Athenadora and Sulpicia smiled warmly at the realization. But they could see that this wasn't purely a social visit by the slightly grim look on Marcus' face and how tense Castiel's posture was. And for what reason would Marcus rush Castiel in through the main doors of the council room and not the side entrances the Master's usually used if this wasn't a matter of urgency?
"What's happened?" Aro asked seriously, descending the steps at a human pace as he looked to his brother for an answer.
Marcus' only response was tilting his chin down at Castiel, indicating that she was the one he should address with his question.
And once Aro's bright red gaze fell onto her, Castiel took a few slow steps forward, meeting Aro halfway and stopping an arm's length from him. Marcus had followed close to her back – she could feel when the fabric of his shirt lightly brushed the back of her arm – and she was grateful for him being there. She felt safer, braver in the presence of these still mostly unfamiliar immortals with Marcus there.
"About twenty minutes ago, I saw something I wasn't expecting." She explained, trying to speak slowly so she wouldn't stumble over her words in her haste to recount what made her so nervous. "I had a vision that I was unable to understand due to the fact that the vampire's within it were all speaking Russian – I think. The coven mentioned you by name Aro, and said Volturi multiple times."
"Again I have no idea why I have seen it, as I wasn't looking for anything, but I worry it could be… very bad, since the only times I get surprise visions are when they involve something serious." She took a deep breath, extending her hand out in front of her, palm up. "I was hoping you could translate it… or maybe recognize some of them."
She ended up sounding much calmer than she felt – at least her heart wasn't racing so everyone in the room was mostly ignorant to her inner turmoil.
Aro smiled at her willingness to have him read her mind again – glad she didn't seem to be afraid of him or weary of his closeness. Though, of course, that could be due to the fact that Marcus was as close as he was. It was only natural that Castiel feel safe with Marcus around.
"Fortunately I do know Russian, so let's see what's going on hm?" Aro said in his usually airy tone, grasping Castiel's outstretched hand between both of his palms.
The rush of Castiel's thought's streamed through Aro's mind, beginning with when she was a child and quickly fast forwarding to the current day. Her mind was still very new to him, so he couldn't simply skip over the thoughts and feelings he had already seen – it would take quite a few more times of his reading her thoughts until her mind was familiar enough to him for him to have control over exactly what he sought to see.
New memories played in his head as he watched Castiel's last few days here through her eyes. He saw everything from her first meeting Marcus, to him telling her she was his imprint in the garden that morning. Aro felt all of her conflicting emotions, from her homesickness to her feelings of belonging. He felt her genuine care for her guard and her affectionate feelings toward his brother.
Oh she liked Marcus, she liked him very much but was much too nervous to admit it to herself.
He was glad that Marcus' concerns about his imprint accepting the bond were unfounded; Castiel was young and shy but certainly capable of reciprocating his feelings for her. She would just have to get passed the stigma that modern day society had placed in her head – that it was wrong to feel things like love and attraction before certain time frames and quotas were met, and that it was wrong to be a woman who enjoyed having a man around to protect her, and things of the like.
And she was experiencing mating pulls! How extraordinary. Of course she didn't realize that the reason for her current state of calm was because of Marcus presence, or that the strange feeling in her stomach in the beginning was the bond calling for more physical contact between the two.
Aro's excited mental inquires were interrupted when he suddenly went from observing as Castiel had lunch to falling into one of her visions.
The room Aro was in now wasn't at all unfamiliar as he had been here many times in the past. He was in the night lounge of the Ushakov Coven's estate. He sighed lightly as he looked around, realizing that they certainly hadn't taken his advice on redecorating when he was last there many years before – though everything did look a little strange from this angle.
Aro almost laughed when he realized that everything looked strange because he was seeing things from his youngest sisters point of view – and not only was she slightly near sighted but he was seeing everything from a foot lower to the ground than he was used to.
The twins Daphne and Veronica were sitting to his immediate right, Veronica braiding Daphne's hair while humming a little tune much too low for human hearing to pick up. The Ushakov coven actually wouldn't have come together if it wasn't for the sisters, who parted ways after their initial change in Germany over a thousand years prior and returned to each other again within a decade – both with their mates and an equal desire to quit living a nomadic life and settle down.
Nikita and Raphael were very weary of each other in the beginning if Aro recalled correctly – which of course he did – but that was only natural after living a fairly secluded life with only your mate for years. Neither was sure the other man was not a threat at first, but both quickly realized that Daphne and Veronica were not in harms way – they were identical twins after all, and neither man was so terrible as to be a threat to someone whom was the direct doppelgänger of their love.
This coven consisted of merely thirty coven members, twenty-six guards and the four main founders. They were allies of the Volturi, and kept a sharp eye over most of Russia. In a way they were the ruling coven in this area of the planet, though the Volturi ruled above them as the kings of the entire supernatural world.
Their alliance with the Ushakov Coven came in handy many times, and the twins close watch with the help of their mates on the surrounding lands had, in more than one occasion, stopped a major threat to their species secrecy – sometimes without the help of the Volturi when the problems were smaller scale.
Daphne and Veronica were gentle leaders for the most part and left the brutality to their mates, which commonly led some immortals to believe that Nikita and Raphael were the leaders of their coven.
Aro did find it amusing how many underestimated women mainly due to their gender. Aro had seen so many minds in his thousands of years he knew better than to ever believe physical gender, size, or appearance meant squat.
Raphael was sitting on a lounger to his left, gently thrumming his fingers against the arm of his seat while he observed Nikita across from him – who sat on the edge of the couch the sisters were on, leaning back and causing the recliner function to kick in.
"Perhaps we should visit our allies in Italy Nikita. We have not been see to the Volturi brothers for a long time." Raphael spoke quietly to Nikita in Russian,
Aro found himself stepping forward – closer to the two men – realizing that Castiel probably had a hard time hearing them. He felt his head tilt to the side just as she had as she tried to focus on what they were saying.
Nikita removed a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his breast pocket, lighting one and taking a slow draw. Aro could have cringed; of course smoking had no ill side effects on vampires as they could not form addictions or any health issues, but smoking inside the house? The smell would be impossible to remove from the fabrics in the room!
"Yes indeed Raphael, the times are changing and more vampires seem to feel we should not live in secret anymore." "UGH!" Aro felt his arms move of their own accord as he threw them over his head, Castiel's voice letting out a frustrated groan from his lips. He had almost forgotten the poor thing didn't understand a word they were saying."Fools" Raphael scoffed, holding out his hand as Nikita tossed the box of cigarettes and lighter to him.
Daphne suddenly began to speak passionately, her lips moving quickly as she made frustrated gestures with her hands. "Of course they are fools! Humans are so easily frightened and just as prone to violence as we are! Their first response will be to drop bombs to destroy us, and they will destroy themselves in the process."
Veronica's voice spoke soothingly as she brushed her fingers through her sister's hair, nearly cutting her off in her haste to respond. "Sister! Calm. We will visit the Volturi and speak with them of the rumors we have heard – though I am sure they already know – and visit for a short while. It is always good when allies' get together is it not? This way the rest of our kind are reminded that the Volturi maintain control for a reason." Rumors? Aro wondered. They had heard many rumors of possible newborn activity in Europe over the last couple months, but what the sisters seemed to be speaking of were rumors regarding their kinds… compliance with their laws of secrecy.Raphael turned his head and blew smoke in Aro's direction, and Aro would have been very offended if he didn't quickly realize this was one of Castiel's visions, and therefore the man had no idea he was being watched. Raphael might be a very strict and no nonsense kind of man, but he certainly wasn't so rude as to blow smoke in someone's face.
Aro's observation of the conversation was slightly interrupted by a quiet voice in the back of his mind – Castiel's thoughts while she was watching the scene leaking through.
He could feel her worry, along with her very genuine concern for the safety of their coven and Marcus.
He listened to the gentle whisper of her thoughts as she worried about her Marcus and if something was going to happen to him.
Aro grinned like a Cheshire cat, he wouldn't tell his brother of Castiel's thoughts, but once his little sister knew him better – oh he would tease her mercilessly about them.
The stream of Castiel's thoughts stopped as Raphael spoke again, drawing Aro's attention back to the matter at hand "So shall we call our friends and let them know of our arrival?"
Nikita thought for a moment, rubbing his chin and putting out his cigarette butt in the ashtray besides him on the glass table, "No I do not think so. You know how much Aro loves surprises, not to mention us randomly dropping in will help keep them on their toes."Nikita's tone was stern, effectively ending the conversation and Aro felt another flurry of emotions consume him momentarily. Frustration, worry, and one that had Aro particularly concerned – worthlessness. He knew all these feelings came from Castiel's inability to understand this vision she had shown him, and he thought idly that he really must speak with Marcus about her self-esteem issues.
The vision ended rather abruptly with the sound of rushing wind, and Aro observed all of the events leading up to Marcus bringing his little mate before all of them to the throne room. If Castiel couldn't find the time, perhaps Aro would more adequately explain her gift to Marcus; his brother really had suffered quite a scare at the ignorance as to what human illnesses could possibly harm his mate. And though Aro knew her body's physical reaction to having visions could be alarming, he himself would have never jumped to the conclusion that she was having a seizure.
Having seen as many minds as he had made Aro the most familiar with exactly what it meant to be human among the coven.
And by the gods Castiel was certainly beginning to act like a newly mated vampire: Marcus had even used his alpha-like dominance in the relationship to calm her when she was panicking. It shouldn't have been possible – but it had happened plain as day.
Aro was excited, he really was such a softie for romance and since what was occurring between Marcus and Castiel was a first for their kind he was absolutely brimming with curiosity.
Castiel's blue eyes were observing him curiously, her head tilted to the side just as his was as they stared at each other.
"Is everything okay?"
Aro was a little surprised that Castiel's lips hadn't moved when she spoke to him, before he realized that she hadn't spoken and he had in fact read her thoughts.
Before he could respond to reassure her that everything was just fine, he watched her pupils dilate very subtly, and heard his own voice echoing in her mind.
"Everything is perfectly fine. The immortals you saw were the Ushakov coven – some of our allies from Russia. They were planning a surprise visit to inform us of some rumors floating around in their region, but it seems it won't be much of a surprise at all actually thanks to you."
Suddenly a throat was unnecessarily cleared from behind them, causing both Aro and Castiel to startle slightly. Castiel simply looked around Aro as he turned his head to Caius – who was staring at the pair with a raised brow.
Neither had any idea how long they were standing silently in the center of the room, but Aro was absolutely over the moon about these sudden revelations. Everything from Castiel feeling the bond with his brother, her assisting their coven with her visions, and the fact that the two of them could communicate silently as he could read her mind and she could predict his answers, were truly amazing!
His mind was filled with nothing but praise for his youngest sister. He simply couldn't picture a threat befalling their family without forewarning from her. Of course her visions could not be considered infallible – the future was never 100% set in stone – but from what he had seen of her life she had yet to be wrong or miss a change of plans, and he really didn't see her visions hold any blind spots.
"Aro!" Caius snapped, irritated he hadn't received and immediate answer. With an impatient sigh Aro released Castiel's hand, and she immediately stepped back into Marcus while flexing her fingers to regain some feeling – since her fingers had gone rather numb due to the chill of Aro's skin.
Marcus' hand felt heavy on her waist as he pulled her lightly back to his side; she went willingly, glad for the familiarity of her friend.
Castiel could feel that she would come to be very close to Aro over time – she could see now how well their gifts complimented one another, and by his expression she was sure he thought the same.
Aro returned to his throne, easily leaping over the few steps on the dais, before facing the room as a whole – spreading his arms wide as if in victory with a rather eager grin.
"It's seems we are going to have some visitors."
Revised February 18, 2018 (23 Pages, 10,304 Words)