Author's Note: This sort of filler chapter, I'm trying to expose a selfish, bratty side of Elizabeth. You will most likely team up with Aro in this argument (I know I did.) Also, Caius isn't just there to be the douche bag, he make a few legitimate points :D
*~*Elizabeth*~*
It was a week since I arrived, and already I missed Washington. Maybe, it was possible that this great love with Aro was no more than lust. All that I knew is that our relationship wasn't whole. It made me wonder if Aro knew how to express love in any other ways than sex. It made me wonder if I knew how to express love at all.
With each passing minute, I found myself wondering if Aro had lied to me that I would be safe. If Stefan was planning an uprising, he would have an army of many willing vampires who wished to overthrow the Volturi. It was simple as that. It was oppressive that Aro could lie to me all he wanted, but I could never lie to him. Even saying that I was fine when I wasn't didn't go unnoticed.
I sat in the gardens, the sun was shining. Aro had sent Arianna, begging me to speak with him. I refused. I had too much to think about. With Stefan as a new threat, I wondered if he would go after my family. I assumed that if I brought it up with Aro, he would just dismiss it, like he did anything concerning the matter.
" Please, Elizabeth, he's scaring me, come speak with him now." Arianna begged. I turned to look at her sharply.
" Has he threatened you?" I asked. Arianna shook her head. " You're lying to me." Arianna started sobbing into her hands, I didn't sympathize with her, I might have if she told me the truth. It seemed like everyone was lying to me and I was not going to pity them.
" I'm sorry." She whimpered. I snarled, standing up from the marble bench in the gardens and strode back to the manor, leaving Arianna crying in the gardens, not even regretting it.
I threw the double doors open, storming down the corridors, looking for Aro. Eventually, he appeared right in front of me. His face was stern. Obviously, he was none too happy with me.
" Elizabeth, we have much to talk about." Aro spoke, his tone very, very dark.
" Apparently, it must be important enough to threaten the life of a poor girl." I spat. He did not take too kindly to my attitude.
" She is disposable." Aro said.
" It doesn't mean you have to torture her."
" I will do as I wish with those who serve me. It would do you well to remember that."
" So that's all I am? Another servant, disposable perhaps?" I asked.
" Silence!" Aro bellowed. I jumped, never hearing any voice louder. " You speak like a child, and for the past two days you have acted like one. I know what is best for you Elizabeth. Obedience will guarantee your happiness."
" You know what's best for me? Get with the times Aro, we are not in the medieval world. I have a say in what is best for me, and solely listening to you is certainly not what's best for me. Maybe I act like a child, but you must be some kind of crazed dictator."
" Dictator? Ha! That's very funny." Aro spoke very quietly, he paced around before looking back at me, right into my very soul. " I've allowed you to pursue your education when I could have just swept you off your feet and you would have never seen your family again! I welcomed you into my home for no charge! I have allowed you your career, and working to obtain it! I have opened up my heart for you! I have given you my body and soul!
" You have given your body to many others before!" I interrupted him.
" Hold your tongue." Aro hissed, silencing me. " I have given you so much. But here you are, treating me like I am the devil? I am only trying to protect you Elizabeth!"
" So you admit it. I am in danger." I spoke, making sure that my tone stung him.
" Stefan is building an army as we speak, he already has many followers." Aro admitted, looking none too happy he did. I snorted, rolling my eyes.
" Were you going to tell me that? Or is your ego so big you didn't want to be wrong?" I asked, my tone very, very bitchy.
" I have told you already. Be satisfied and don't just assume what I might, or might not have done." Aro snarled.
" I'll assume what I want." I snarled at him. He grabbed my wrist roughly, yanking me closer to him.
" Do not try me my love. You do not want to see me angered." Aro warned me.
" This isn't angry?" I asked.
" Harsh concern." He spoke, each syllable articulated. He let go of my wrist. " We will continue this, but I have more important things to do than quarrel with a rude, stubborn woman." Aro snarled before storming away from me.
*~*Aro*~*
" That bloody, goddamned woman! How dare she!" I screamed, Marcus and Caius were my audience. " I give her so much and get this in return? This had better end or else I might just 'accidently' drain her dry!"
" That's what you get when you have someone who does not know their proper place. I suggest restricting her freedoms, she has far too many in my opinion. Freedom makes humans ungrateful." Caius advised me.
" Caius, you speak too harshly. She is probably wondering what she has done right this moment. Elizabeth is afraid for her life, something that can bring the worst out of anyone. Aro, this isn't going to end until she has nothing to fear, so eradicate some of her fear. I don't have to read minds to know that she fears for the safety of her family." Marcus spoke, countering Caius's rather harsh advice.
" Oh yes, lavish a woman who can't hold her tongue, very clever idea Marcus. She is overindulged already. If she were my mate, she wouldn't be getting anything from me until she learned her place." Caius snarled at Marcus.
" She did not grow up in a time that women submit to their men Caius, your methods would only anger her further." Marcus said. I sighed, this would be another one of their verbal battles.
" My do I miss those times. Now women are brazen and outspoken. Where did the beauty in virtue ever go? Aro, your mate is extremely brazen, willing to spread her legs for you so quickly."
" Silence Caius. I will not have you speaking of my mate when it comes to that subject." I snapped at him. " You don't hear me speaking of your wife like that."
" Exactly my point, Aro. My wife isn't a pampered, ungrateful, discourteous whore!" Caius spoke, raising his voice at me.
To my dismay, Caius had a point there, except calling her a whore. Caius was very extreme, and this was one of the few times that his extreme attitude swayed me in my decision. Marcus looked fearful, probably the idea of choosing Caius' decision in this situation.
" Aro. She will only hate you more. She is only afraid, forgive her." Marcus begged of me.
" You just can't handle that I'm right, can't you Marcus?" Caius asked.
" Will you two just shut it!" I snarled at the two of them. They stopped immediately. " I will send a few of our guard to protect her family. If that doesn't improve anything, then she will definitely wish she perked right up." I proclaimed. Before my brothers could say anything, I ran out of the room, I wasn't in the mood for them to argue over my affairs.
I ran to my chambers where I heard Elizabeth talking to someone. She was on the balcony, her cell phone in her hand. She was laughing, her mood had improved since I last talked to her.
" I'm having a wonderful time in Italy. Grading papers is a pain, but teachers are less lazy here than in America." Elizabeth said. I could hear a woman's voice on the other line laugh.
" Have you been anywhere else besides Volterra?" The woman asked Elizabeth.
" No, I haven't even been around Volterra very much. Probably after the school year is over is when I would do my major touring." Elizabeth said.
" So, I'm curious. Have any of those stupid Italian men tried wooing you yet?" The other woman asked.
" Actually, yes." Elizabeth said.
" Give me the details." The woman on the other line demanded.
" I'm dating one of the Volturi." Elizabeth told her. I stopped dead, but then I remembered that one of our many cover ups is that we were 'related' to the Volturi leaders of the past, much like the royal family in England.
" You're joking!" The woman spoke dumbfounded.
" Not even kidding you mom. I know it's quick, but he insisted I moved in." Elizabeth said.
" Oh my god! Not even out of college and you are living with Prince Charming and in the fairytale castle." Her mother said. " Don't you dare drop out of college though. I will personally come down there and whoop your ass."
" Don't worry, I let him know he comes second to my career and education." Elizabeth said. That wasn't very nice!
" That's my girl."
" Hey mom, I'm on a card and minutes are super expensive. I'll call you in two weeks." Elizabeth said.
" Alright, facebook me. Love you Lizzy."
" Love you too mom, bye." Elizabeth said, hanging up the phone and put it in her pocket. She turned around, shocked to see me there.
" Sorry, I startled you. I'll make this quick." She stood transfixed, looking at me quizzically. " Because of this new threat, I'm sending guards to protect your family." I told Elizabeth, who's hard, angered expression softened. She ran over and threw her arms around me.
*~*Elizabeth*~*
He actually cared. Even if it was an attempt for me to forgive him, how could I not? How could I simply dismiss this? There were some things that if happened, would get my knickers out of a twist, and that thing was taking some action because of this new danger.
The whole time I was talking to my mother on the phone, I felt a knot twist in my stomach, expecting to hear her scream and hear the sound of spraying blood or tearing flesh. It was like watching a horror movie, except this actually was scary, this was real, or as real as fear could make it for me.
" Thank you!" I cried out, my words muffled by his chest. " You have no idea how much this means to me. I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that earlier." I sobbed.
" I forget that humans react to fear differently. It has been many centuries since I feared anything." Aro told me, putting my hair behind my ears. " Also over those centuries, I have had to be the one to put fear in the hearts and minds of my kind and many others. Generally, when I see fear in others, it is only just another way of groveling at my feet for something they don't deserve."
" I don't deserve anything from you, especially your forgiveness." I said. This was a particularly awkward moment because from sobbing, as usual, tears from my nose almost touched my lips. I was trying to find some way I could wipe them on my sleeve or something.
Aro pulled a white cloth from his pocket and gave it to me. I was rather embarrassed at the fact he was seeing me with tears and snot running down my nose. I wiped my nose and wadded up the cloth, feeling awkward and disgusting.
" Sorry, that was totally gross." I said.
" Humans can't look perfect all the time." Aro said with a chuckle.
" Wrong. Audrey Hepburn is perfect in every sense of the word." I said. Aro seemed to accept my counterexample.
" She was lovely. Back when movies still worth going to watch." Aro said.
" When was the last time you saw a movie?" I asked him.
" I think it was the sixth Harry Potter movie. It disappointed me, barley followed the book." Aro said.
" You read Harry Potter?" I asked him, not being able to believe it. He read Harry Potter, a three thousand year old vampire who read, and apparently enjoyed Harry Potter.
" Of course. Never before has a literary work been celebrated throughout the globe. After hearing about its success, I had to read them."
" I have loved Harry Potter since I was seven." I said, gesturing to my bookcase, where all seven books along with some others rested. " It was my childhood novel. They're splitting Deathly Hallows into two parts. I'm really happy about that so they get a lot more detail. I'm definitely going to cry in those, part two at the very least."
" Witches exist." Aro said. My jaw dropped to the floor.
" No way!" I shouted excitedly.
" Yes. We have an alliance with them. With witch burnings, they were almost to the point of extinction, but I made sure to get the remaining ones in Europe to safety. They are a powerful ally." Aro explained.
" So, what are witches really like?" I asked, curious to learn more about witches."
" They look like regular people, except they age slowly once they get to their twenties. They don't ride on brooms or carpets, nor do they have wands. It takes thousands of years for them to control their magic, which during the times of witch burning, they were doomed if their magic got out of control in public. They live in an archipelago which thanks to their magic, can't be seen with a human eye."
" That is incredible. So do all of these myth and legend type things exist?" I asked.
" Oh yes. From sprites to manticores, all of them exist. The most dangerous out of all of them are sea dragons. There are only two in the world. One is located where the Bermuda Triangle is, and the other at the Dragon's Triangle."
" So they don't call it the Dragon's Triangle for no reason."
Aro told me much more about the sea dragons of the world's oceans. It made me smile to think that all of these things I believed to be fantasy were real. For the rest of the evening, Aro talked about how trolls would probably side with the Romanians, and so would sprites and merpeople. I learned that our allies consisted of witches, giants, the Cerberus pack in Greece, and dragon riders. Aro apparently was making a valiant effort to get the loyalty of the sea dragons, for not only could they control their triangles, but the entire world's oceans as well.
It astounded me that vampires weren't the strongest or fastest thing out there after witnessing how strong and fast they are compared to humans. It surprised me that humans haven't gone extinct yet, or farmed to make human bacon or something like that. What about our species allowed us to be so populous?
Author's Note: Yeah, weird mythological creature tangent, this chapter was a little depressing, so I wanted to add something cool. But yeah, I hope Elizabeth seems like a selfish bitch at the moment, because she really only forgives Aro after she gets what she wants. I'm trying so hard to make a character with flaws (real flaws, not I trip and my love catches me all the time.) I don't understand why authors are so afraid to make a flawed character? I'm trying to drag Elizabeth into a complete pool of flaws where the only redeeming qualities would be happy when she has what she wants, can play a bass, and her love for her family and friends. In my head, she's not overly beautiful, she's selfish when it comes to most things and people, she grumbles about her job and how it isn't the complete dream job, and anything else I can't name off the top of my head. Elizabeth is only human, she can't act noble, beautiful, intelligent, hardworking, strong, or a sympathy magnet. But I have to remember and stop myself from calling many other characters things like Mary Sues, because Mary Sue's are just a reflection of what society is wanting us to be, and we all want to be perfect. I am probably closer to a Mary Sue than what my character will hopefully be during her development in this story. That was a long rant. Reviews are wonderful, whether it be a flame, critique, or proclamation of love for the chapter.