Chapter Fourteen

Hermione was escorted to the dome room with Felix and Demetri at either side of her. And for some reason she felt incredibly nervous as though it was her trial she was walking towards, and not the interrogation of the two vampires she had met previously.

When they entered the room, it was set up in exactly the same way as when she had first met the rest of the guard members. The three thrones, which were currently empty, stood prominent in the front of the room. There were two seats to the side facing the audience and there were chairs on either side of the room facing towards the front, with a wide aisle in the middle.

Everyone was already sitting on their seats except for the three empty ones close to the front, which were for Hermione, Demetri and Felix. As she looked around the room she noticed that Jane and Alec were also missing, along with the three leaders and their wives.

"Don't be so nervous little witchling. It's not like it's you who's out front this time." Felix said with a slight chuckle as he tried to ease her apprehension.

"Thanks for that." She replied with a roll of her eyes, despite the small smile that had crept onto her lips. "So what usually happens at these things then, I mean they're only going to try and find out if the two vampires know anything and that's it. Right?" She asked knowing how naive she probably sounded to them.

Felix and Demetri chanced a glance at each other wondering how they should answer that question. If they lied to her then she would probably be angry at them for not telling her the whole truth, and if they told her the truth then she would probably either storm out in anger, or apparate away having seen what she was like before.

"It's a little bit more complicated than that." Demetri replied cautiously.

Hermione looked at him and frowned slightly at his evasive answer.

"Complicated how?" She asked.

"Well you see-" Demetri began to say, but before he could explain anything to her further, the doors to the back of the dome room opened and the three leaders and their wives walked in. They were all elegantly dressed in the full Volturi outfit, excluding their black cloaks, and they each wore their Volturi crests proudly around their necks, displaying their power and leadership.

The three Volturi leaders looked strong and imposing as a triad but it was Aro who caught Hermione's eye the most. He had an air of importance about him, and seemed the prominent figure amongst the two other leaders. Out of the three of them it was easy to see that he was the one in charge.

Sulpicia was by his side, her arm tucked in his as he gently lead her to the chair next to his throne. She whispered something into his ear and patted his arm affectionately and he replied by giving her a small quirk of his lips and a slight nod of his head. Once Marcus, Caius, Athenodora and Sulpicia were all seated, Aro walked to the front of his throne and smiled out towards the guard members. Although he was drawn to her, his gaze avoided stopping on Hermione, whose stare he could feel on him. He wondered how she was going to react to this and so didn't want to draw any attention to his curiosity.

"Welcome members of the guard, I bet you are all wondering why you are here. As you are probably aware Felix and Demetri have been away from the Palazzo for a few weeks now. They have been on a mission for us. You see it has come to our attention that the Dacia coven has once again been building up their army and plan on attacking us. We know when and we know where, but we don't know why yet, which is where Demetri and Felix come in. They have brought back two prisoners for interrogation, nomads who may have information on the Romanian coven's movements." He turned to look at the back of the room and said, "Heidi if you please."

She stepped up from her chair in the back row and headed towards the wooden doors. Flinging them open Hermione saw Jane push the female nomad vampire in, while Alec shoved the male vampire through the doors. They looked nervous and frightened as they took in the sight of the Volturi guard members and the three imposing leaders at the front.

They were pushed down the wide aisle towards the two empty chairs and when they took their seats the male vampire caught sight of Hermione. His eyes widened in recognition as he spat out,

"You."

Alec who was so much smaller than the other male vampire hissed for him to be quiet, before slapping his face hard as a punishment for speaking out without permission. The male vampire growled at Alec before averting his gaze to Aro, who stood watching the whole situation unfold with a small smile on his face.

"That will do Alec." He said although there was no sign of a warning in his voice, in fact he seemed rather pleased by Alec's more dominant display of power over the nomad.

Jane took her place as guard behind the female vampire, while Alec took his place behind the male vampire. With everyone now in their rightful places Aro once again began to speak.

"These two nomads were roaming around with Margery Bergen and her mate. Unfortunately, they both are no longer here with us today thanks to our very own Hermione, who Margery made the mistake of trying to attack."

At Aro's words, all eyes turned to Hermione in shock, she tried to slink back in her chair hoping that she could just disappear to stop them all from looking. They had no idea about the attack on Hermione or that she had killed, so were surprised to hear this news from Aro.

"These two vampires were luckily spared thanks to Hermione's generosity. But we have brought them here today to find out what they know, if anything." He now turned his attention back to the nomads and smiled, one that was both intimidating and calculating looking. "Now we know that you have been traveling around Europe, so let me ask you both what you have heard about the Romanian coven?"

The female nomad vampire with the long blonde hair, looked briefly towards her mate, as though she was expecting him to say something. But he didn't, instead he remained silent. This brief glance didn't go unnoticed by Aro.

"You my dear." Aro said sweetly to the female. "Look like you may know something." His eyes shifted from her to her mate, and when she remained silent he sighed audibly. "It pains me to say this to you both but we can either do this the hard way or the easy way, so what's it to be?"

The male nomad vampire growled at Aro then said,

"Go to hell."

Aro simply smiled and took a seat on his throne.

"Oh I've already been there thank you, but since you have no plans in helping us or yourself, perhaps this will change your mind." He turned his attention to Jane and grinned menacingly at her. "Jane my dear if you would please do us the honour." Clasping his hands he placed them on his knee as he watched Jane, all the time keeping a curious gaze on Hermione from the corner of his eye. She was sitting with a stiff back, obviously feeling tense and unsure about what was happening. But still she never once took her gaze off the proceedings. Perhaps, he mused, there was hope for her yet.

"Of course Master." Jane said bowing her head in respect before moving to stand in front of the two vampires. Looking at the female nomad she smiled sweetly then said, "I'm afraid this is going to hurt you more than it is me." Then she whispered one single word, "Pain."

Almost instantly the female vampire began to scream in utter agony, as she fell off the chair, her body convulsing with the pain, as her whole body felt like it was on fire.

Hermione who had been watching in curious fascination flinched as she watched the female being tortured, knowing all too well how it felt to be on the receiving end of Jane's power. She wondered why Aro simply didn't use his own power on them to find out the information that they required, but knew that would be too easy. He enjoyed the theatrics of an interrogation and as one of the leaders, wanted to show everyone in the vampire world that the Volturi were not to be taken lightly. This was their world and their ways, and so therefore must be respected. If they weren't then they would show everyone what would happen to those who didn't respect their authority.

"Stop it you bastard." The male nomad shouted as he watched helplessly, as his mate rolled and convulsed on the floor. "What do you want from us?" He yelled out.

Aro laughed and spread his hands wide.

"You know what we want my friend. We want to know what you have heard about the Romanian coven. It is obvious from your mate's reaction that you know something, but it seems that for some reason you're not willing to share this information with us." Aro frowned and with a disapproving shake of his head said, "Tut tut. I am greatly disappointed in that." He turned his attention back to Jane then quietly said, "Jane my dear that is enough for now."

She instantly averted her gaze away from the convulsing woman on the floor to look at Aro, cancelling her power at once by this action.

"As you wish Master." She said compliantly, although she never moved from her spot in front of the female nomad, just in case Aro needed her to repeat the performance.

"Thank you my dear." He said turning away from Jane to the male nomad vampire. "Now shall we try this again then? What do you know about the Romanian coven?"

The male nomad sat in silence once more, his lips pursed in a small frown as he took a moment to think. He hated the Volturi and everything that they stood for, and so was reluctant to give them the information that they wanted. But he couldn't stand to see his mate hurt again. He could feel her pain, and fear radiated from her as if it were his own. When he still hadn't answered after a short while, Aro sighed again, beginning to feel frustrated at not getting what he wanted.

"Alright then if that is what you want. Jane my dear once more if you please." He simply said sounding as though he was bored by this already.

"No stop, wait please." The female nomad begged, her voice sounding croaky and rough having just endured being tortured by Jane.

Aro put his hands up to Jane, stopping her from using her power on the female nomad. She looked somewhat disappointed but obeyed her master nonetheless.

"Do you have something to tell us, if so please go ahead? If not, then Jane here wouldn't mind punishing you once again for wasting our time."

The female nomad sat up, although she appeared unbalanced and slightly disoriented.

"Please I will tell you everything you need to know. Just please don't hurt me again." She pleaded. "The four of us were traveling around Europe when we met a group of vampires, they were Romanian. They told us that the Dacia coven were coming back into power and that they were going around looking for nomads, those who do not follow the Volturi rule, to join their armies." She turned her head away from Aro, knowing that she had just admitted to the leaders of the most powerful coven, that she went against their laws and their ideas.

"Not to worry my dear we will forget all about that little indiscretion there. Please go ahead." Aro said sounding calm.

"We refused, saying that we knew all too well about what happened to them the last time they took on the Volturi. The leader of the group just laughed at us and said that this time was different as they had a secret weapon, one that could destroy the Volturi forever."

Aro's eyebrows shot up as he turned to look at both his brothers. They already knew that the Romanians wanted Hermione, were they going to try and persuade her to join them and turn her against the Volturi? He wondered curiously. Or was it something else entirely?

"And what is this secret weapon that they speak of?" Caius asked.

The female nomad turned to look at Caius and shrugged her shoulders, the aftereffects of Jane's power rippling through her body at the slight movement.

"I swear I don't know. We asked them, and all they said was that it was a secret." She answered truthfully.

"And do you know why they plan on attacking now?" Marcus asked, his gaze flickering over to Hermione.

Again the female nomad shrugged her shoulders while shaking her head in the negative.

"No, all they said was it was time they got their revenge."

Marcus, Caius and Aro looked at each other, trying to decide whether they believed her or not. So with that there was only one thing left for them to do. Aro stood up and walked over to the female nomad, smiling down at her trembling body. He sniffed the air slightly and his grin grew wider and more feral looking. He loved nothing more than the smell of fear in the air.

"Thank you very much, you have been a great help to us. But would you mind terribly if I saw your thoughts."

Aro didn't wait for an answer, he simply took her hands in his and closed his eyes, as every thought she ever had passed through into his mind. She was a reckless and daring vampire, not caring about the laws of secrecy as she and her mate killed openly, without a care in the world. They moved about from country to country leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

He opened his eyes and dropped her hands, a look of disgust on his beautiful pale face.

"My my, we have been busy haven't we." He said his eyes shifting from her to her mate. "You have broken several of our laws on your travels. Feeding in the open, stealing, letting humans see you. Tut tut I am disappointed. No wonder you were so reluctant coming here and fighting against my two guard members." He sighed as he shook his head. "Now the question is what do we do with you both?" He lay his finger across his lips, as if he were deep in thought but really he already knew what would happen next, he just liked the flair of the dramatics.

"Please." The male nomad shouted. "Please do whatever you want to me, but leave Veronica out of it. She has done nothing wrong." He pleaded.

Aro's eyes moved to him and he chuckled lightly.

"So very noble of you but I am afraid you are wrong. Your mate here has broken rules just as you have, and we all know that those who break the laws must be punished."

Hermione who had been watching with trepidation suddenly felt her heart clench as she understood what was going to happen next. This was one of those things that the Volturi did that she didn't have to like, but respect nonetheless. She now hated the fact that she had made that promise to Marcus.

"No please don't hurt her." The male nomad pleaded. He looked towards his mate and reached his hand out to her, but Jane quickly pulled Veronica away from him. She struggled in Jane's arms but she wasn't strong enough to fight for long, as the torture she had not long ago endured had weakened her significantly.

"Alec would you please control our guest." Aro said and watched with pleasure as Alec nodded his head. Black mist appeared from Alec's hands and into the male nomads' body. He cried out as he slipped from the chair having lost all use of his senses. "Demetri and Felix." Aro then said.

Without any further instructions, Hermione watched as her two friends rose from their chairs and went over to the male nomad. They picked him up roughly by the arms and dragged him in front of Aro. They pushed him down onto his knees and stretched his arms out to stop him from trying to struggle against them.

"For breaking the laws of the Volturi by revealing yourself in front of humans, for keeping secrets from us and by attacking members of the Volturi guard. I hereby sentence you to death." With that Aro wrapped his hands around the nomads' throat and with a familiar ease he twisted then pulled.

The moment his hands were around the nomads' throat, Hermione looked away from the scene in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut trying desperately to block out the sight, but she could not block out the sound of his neck breaking, or the piercing scream of his mate, which seemed to echo around the room.

Felix and Demetri grabbed hold of the female named Veronica and moved her into the same position as her mate had been in. Once again Aro stood tall and imposing as he said,

"I hereby sentence you to death for breaking the laws of the Volturi."

Veronica held her head high in defiance and said,

"You bastards deserve everything that's coming to you."

Aro grinned maliciously at her and bent over slightly to whisper,

"Pity you won't be here to witness it then." And with those words he twisted her head off too and dropped it onto the floor next to the body. "Please dispose of them as soon as possible." He said to Felix and Demetri. They picked up the bodies and carried them away with ease as Aro once again addressed the guard members. "Justice will always be served to those who decide to go against our laws. It pains me to see such potential being destroyed, as they have so much to give. But alas they decided to oppose us. Now that you are aware of the threat the Romanians pose, we have made moves to build our own forces. A fancy dress ball will be held on Halloween, so that we can speak to coven leaders and get them to fight alongside us. From the information that we have already gathered, we know that the Romanians have already built an army with over five hundred soldiers, so therefore we must get as many covens as possible to join us. After the ball I plan on sending a small group over the Romanian borders to gather more information for us. But do not be disheartened though. We have a wonderful collective of power and have already annihilated them before. I am sure we can do it again. Now train hard and prepare well. Thank you, you may go now." He bowed his head out of respect as he dismissed the guard members. Then turning to his brothers they spoke briefly about what they had heard. They would save the more in depth discussion for when they were back in their shared quarters, away from the other guard members.

Hermione sat in stunned silence not believing what she had just seen. She had just witnessed her first trial and it was everything like she had imagined it to be, quick, brutal and straight to the point. She couldn't even be disgusted by what she had seen for they had broken the laws and were punished according to the Volturi laws. And everyone knew that Hermione Granger tried to follow the rules as best as she could.

Also she would be classed as a hypocrite for she had dished out her own form of punishment to their friends not that long ago. So she was just like the Volturi in a way. This realisation took her completely off guard. All this time she was trying hard not to be like them and now she realised that, this was exactly the direction she was heading in. She was becoming more like them every day.

"Hermione." A voice said breaking her sudden train of thoughts. When she looked up to the owner of the voice Aro was standing looking at her, an amused expression on his face.

"Hmm." Was all she was able to say, still too stunned by her new discovery.

"Your lessons with me will begin tomorrow. Be at my quarters at 10am and do not be late." With that he left her sitting there, not even waiting on her answer nor did he say goodbye.

She watched his retreating form walk over to Sulpicia. He bent his head and whispered something into her ear, and she looked at him in return with a wry smile on her face. They said goodbye to Marcus and Caius before leaving the dome room arm in arm.

Hermione's heart twisted painfully in her chest, as she realised why they were leaving and what they would probably no doubt be doing. What did it matter to her what they were doing anyway? He was not her concern.

She wished that she could believe that but knew it wasn't true. She had some strange infatuation with the Volturi leader and was jealous that he was off with his wife. For the past couple of weeks, he hadn't even looked at Hermione, like he used to do when he thought she wasn't looking. Perhaps he too had heard the rumours about her and Demetri and decided to back away. She couldn't understand why it bothered her so much that he didn't seem as interested in her anymore, but somehow it did.

"Are you alright my little witchling you look as though you're a million miles away?"

She looked up to see Demetri, with a look of concern etched on his face. She smiled fondly at him and nodded her head slowly.

"Yes I'm fine, but if you don't mind I'm going to retire to my room for a little while."

He didn't need to say anything for he understood that after what she had just seen, it was probably wise to give her a little space and some time to think on her own. So he simply nodded his head in understanding, placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, letting her know that he would be there for her when she was ready.

"Thanks." She said.

Hermione stood up and took a step away from Demetri as she apparated away back to her own bedroom. Not wanting to hear anything from next door, she warded her quarters and put up a silencing spell. The last thing she needed at the moment was to hear Aro and Sulpicia in the throes of passion. She shuddered at the thought.

Luckily for her, her phone began to ring, taking her mind away from thoughts of Aro and Sulpicia. Looking down at the screen she saw that there were already four missed calls from Alice.

"Hello is everything alright." She asked answering the phone to her frantic friend.

"Hermione is that you where the hell have you been, I've been trying to get a hold of you for ages." Alice exclaimed, sounding hysterical.

Hermione suddenly felt concerned at her friend's' frantic behaviour. Whatever it was that had made Alice so upset obviously wasn't good, for normally she was calm and level headed.

"Wow Alice calm down. I was just at my first trial. What's wrong?" She asked.

Hermione could hear Alice sigh audibly, before mumbling something into the background. She wondered if the rest of the Cullen's were there with her or if it was just Jasper she was talking to.

"I don't know what the hell's happening over there, but I know something bad is going on. I just had a vision of your future." She paused for a moment and seemed to suck in a deep breath. "Hermione I just saw your death."

As soon as Alice had said those five little words, a horrible vision entered Hermione's mind, causing her to drop the phone to the floor, as she grasped the edge of the desk to steady herself.

In the vision she had, she was surrounded by fire and burning bodies, so many bodies lying crumpled on the ground. She was lying amongst it all trying to hold off the fire, but for some reason she couldn't move as she was so weak. Her magic was almost depleted and she couldn't hold the fire off anymore. And as soon as whatever spell she had cast ended, the flames roared to life engulfing her weakened body, burning her alive. She could hear her screams of pain, and could even feel her body burn.

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut trying to rid herself of the vision, before realising that Alice was still on the phone to her. With trembling hands, she picked it up off the floor and held the phone to her ear, only to hear Alice frantically calling out her name repeatedly.

"I'm here." She whispered.

"Hermione are you alright? Did you see the vision?" Alice asked.

Hermione nodded her head, unable to speak, before realising that Alice wouldn't be able to see her. So with everything that she could muster she simply said,

"Yes I saw it."

Alice mumbled to someone again before returning back to Hermione and saying,

"Hermione what is going on? What is happening please just tell us?"

Hermione sighed and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Trust me Alice when I say that for now I can't tell you. But you will all find out soon enough"

Alice groaned and huffed at the other end of the line.

"Hermione please, you need to be careful. If you are in danger then tell us, you can come here and we will keep you safe."

Hermione chuckled slightly then quietly said,

"If only that was true."

"What do you mean? Please Hermione you're scaring me." Alice pleaded.

Hermione hated keeping secrets from the Cullen's, especially from Alice but she knew she couldn't say anything to them. Not until the ball when Aro would address the situation and fill in the other coven leaders about what was going on.

"Alice please don't worry about me. I promise you everything is fine. But I really need to go now alright. I will phone you later."

"Hermione don't go yet." Alice said frantically.

"I'm sorry, I will phone you later." And before Alice could say anything else, Hermione quickly hung up the phone, before turning if off completely. It was one thing to be told that you were going to die; it was a completely different thing actually seeing and feeling your death and it left her unnerved.

For the rest of the day Hermione sat thinking about what she had seen, both the trial and the deaths of the two nomads and then the vision of her own painful death. War was coming to the Volturi and as always with War came death. If she wanted any chance in helping the Volturi defeat the Romanians she could not think of the vision she had seen, for that would only take her mind away from the fight itself. If she didn't give it her all then it wasn't just her own life at stake, it was also other members of the guard, as well as vampires from other covens. She could not let that happen. So with grim determination she decided that the best plan of action would be not to focus on the vision but practice and train hard, focusing all of her attention on not only winning the battle but the whole War instead. She would deal with what she saw in the vision, if and when it was time and would not tell anyone about what she had seen, for their minds needed to be on the fight ahead as well, and she couldn't have them worrying about her. She did not want to distract them from what they needed to do. So with that in mind, she began to prepare herself for her very first lesson with Aro the next again morning.