Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
When my beta send me back her edits on the last chapter, she asked me if I could write a little something that would give her a peek into the enemy's kitchen. I hadn't even thought about doing that before but I really liked the idea (and wrote this whole thing in a matter of a couple of hours). So here it is, dedicated to my wonderful beta The Real Teacher. This story wouldn't be the same without her.
PLEASE NOTE: this chapter is written in the point of view of a man who I can only describe as 'despicable'. His thoughts and actions will reflect that, though there will be no direct violence featured in this chapter.
- 13 -
"We need to talk." As long as I'd known him – and that was going on twenty years now – I had never known Caius to veil his sentences with flattery or even a kind note to his voice. He always spoke as he saw and, within my circle, he was the only one who managed to get away with it.
For now.
Still, as I rubbed the rough edges of my goatee I couldn't help but feel vexed. "Could this not have waited until tonight? You know how much I resent being interrupted in the course of my workday."
There were no apologies, but then again, I hardly expected otherwise from him. "The Swan girl is getting closer and closer," he whispered, cautious of being overheard in the small observation room above the main operating room.
"Not here," I barked, motioning for him to follow me out of the room and into the network of hallways and corridors leading to my office.
I only spoke again when I was sure the door was locked behind us and the blinds were closed. It may not have been out of the ordinary for the Dean of Medical Studies to visit the Chief of Staff at a hospital that trained a lot of his students, the subject matter we were about to discuss was.
And I would prefer to keep it a secret.
"Let me get this straight," I spoke, settling into my chair as I gazed at him. "You dragged me out of a very interesting medical procedure to discuss a lowly college reporter? Have you lost your mind?"
His eyes never showed a reaction to the jibe. "She's more than that and you know it. She needs to be dealt with."
I couldn't fully suppress a smile. "Oh really?" The man was anything if not predictable. Whenever he saw a threat he wanted it out of the way, no matter how valuable said threat might turn out to be.
"Yes," he barked, my amusement clearly causing his hackles to rise. "One of my custodes called to say she'd walked up to him in a cafeteria full of students and started asking questions about the Volturi."
"Is that so?" I mused. I had to admit I was starting like the Swan girl more and more. She had brass, that one, and though that might not be a good thing as far as the Volturi were concerned, it was a pleasure to see such a concentration of intelligence and courage in one so young.
Caius obviously took my wonder to mean that I was onboard with his little plan. "We cannot endanger the guard by allowing her to find out more than we care to reveal. We're already taking a huge risk by allowing Cullen to live and …"
"Enough!" I turned around to see my words had had the desired effect. The frightened look on his face and recoil in his demeanor almost making me forget my anger. It was satisfying to know that underneath all that pompous confidence the man I'd come to know as Caius still knew his place.
I took a few steadying breaths, making sure no traces of my vexation or amusement were present in my voice when I continued. "The last time I checked I was still Dominus et Deus when it came to the rule of my guard. If I wanted your opinion I would have sought you out and asked you for it."
"Be that as it may," Caius persisted. "I still think caution should be observed." Did the man really have no survival instincts at all?
I leaned back again, gazing at him with a blank stare that had been perfected over years of practice. "And what do you suggest?"
"Kill her." He shrugged. "We could be fast and make it look like an accident or – if we can balance the risk of exposure against the possible benefits – we might even be able to swing this so we can get Cullen in the frame."
I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Don't you think the premeditated murder charge will be more than enough to do the trick?"
He smirked back at me. "Can one ever be too thorough?"
He was a cruel and calculative man, one who wouldn't hesitate to send his own son to the block if he thought that doing so would benefit the so called 'greater good' – or better said: his greater good. In all those years I'd known the man to be calm to an almost disconcerting degree, in complete command of himself and those who answered to him and cautious almost to a fault.
It was a valuable trait in one's second in command.
In fact, I would ever go so far as to say that it was men like him who had made sure our secret had been kept for as long as it had.
Don't worry, my dear friend," I soothed. "The girl is nothing but a pesky little insect that can be crushed with no amount of exertion at all when the time is ripe."
"Just make sure the insect won't be able to sting before it can be crushed," Caius warned me, his impenetrable gaze fixed on me. "I would hate to see her poison the work we have toiled years to achieve."
"Do not worry yourself," I answered, though it was as much in warning as it was in comfort that I spoke the words. "I have this all under control."
I turned my chair to look out of the window as I heard the door click back into its lock. My fake confidence might have been able to get my princeps off my back but I was a long way off from soothing my own worries about the turn of events that had taken place.
This Bella Swan girl was turning into a thorn in my side and – had I not been so personally interested in the strange little brown-haired girl – I would probably be on the phone right now, ordering her termination.
Being as it was, I had to settle for second best. The Swan girl represented too great a value to be done away with.
No, the plans I had for her were solid and would benefit the Volturi far more than a fast solution ever could.
"Dominus?" I was shocked out of my revengeful meditations when a knock on the door was followed by a severe intrusion of my peace. "Are you alright?"
Heidi gazed at me with worried eyes. "I just saw Caius storm out of here with a look on his face that promised trouble and…."
"Are you out of your mind?" I barked at her, sending her stumbling into the door-post. "First you barge into this room like a stampeding buffalo and then you proceed to address me with a title that should only be used behind closed doors. And I haven't even started about your lack of appropriate attire!"
"I-I…I didn't t-t-think," she stammered, a trembling hand pushing the door into its lock after a hand gesture from me commanded her to.
"No, it was clear you didn't," I sneered. "I thought your close friendship with Jane would make you mindful of what happens to young women who 'don't think'."
"I-I…' she started.
"Or is that something you like, Heidi?"I went on, quite liking this little game of power play. "Is punishment somehow a source of pleasure for you?"
"N-no sir," she gasped, looking more pitiful than desirable at that moment.
But I knew better than to judge a woman by the thin veneer of outward appearances. Underneath the surface this girl was rotten through and through.
I should have known better to allow a girl like her to advance beyond her expectations.
It wasn't often that the Volturi brought people into their circle that didn't belong to the uppermost layers of society. Our way of life dictated a certain class and attitude that wasn't often encountered in the lower regions of society. And besides, the chances that someone whom was born into a working class environment could ever bring something to the table that might benefit us were very slim.
Whenever an exception was made, nine times out of ten it would be for a female. Most of the times it was a very beautiful young woman who had caught the eye of one or more of the guards and who would be happy to service the men in exchange for all the social and financial benefits her new position would bestow upon her.
As for the other two times….Well, we needed people to do the work none of us would dirty our hands with.
When I'd chosen her out of all the girls willing to fill the spot to be my personal famula I'd done so in the hope that she would value the honor bestowed upon her and prove to be a loyal and trustworthy attendant. However, as of late I'd detected a conceitedness and arrogance in her that greatly displeased me.
It was about time the girl learned a lesson on humility.
"I will not stand for disrespect," I barked.
"I'm sorry, dominus," she muttered, all color leaving her face as she realize the gravity of her most recent slip of the tongue. "I didn't mean to be disrespectful…."
I could still see the artificiality in her demeanor. The girl might have said she was sorry but inwardly she was far from remorseful. She was testing the borders.
Well, tonight she would find out how much trouble that behavior had gotten her into.
Tonight she would be taught a hard lesson in humility.
I smiled, feeling the front of my trousers grow tighter as I thought about how she would be passed around my guard, serving each and every one of them as she would start to realize that she had lost her position as my chosen one. Slowly the light of arrogance would die out in her eyes and be replaced with that combination of shame, fear and humility that I looked for in all my guards.
Girls could be replaced but respect…..Respect was indispensible.
Even if it meant I would soon be on the lookout for another famula. I wondered if the Swan girl might be tamed in time to serve my needs…
Looking up I was almost surprised to see Heidi still waiting for me to dismiss her, her eyes averted to the floor and her hands folded in front of her torso as she'd been taught.
"You will wait for me in my personal chambers at seven where you will show me how grateful you are to be in the position I elected you into before we go down to attend the ceremony."
A slight incline of her head told me she'd understood the message.
All the better.
The added bonus of seeing my former attendant cut down to size was making me look forward to the evening ahead of me. Initiation rites like the one taking place tonight had gotten so tiresome over the years but the prospect of giving Heidi a surprise she would not lightly forget made this one stand out amidst the long string of similar rites I'd attended over the year.
After all, how many times can one watch an orgy before everything starts looking mundane and slightly ridiculous? It served its purpose, though. And that was all that mattered.
"That will be all," I spoke, making sure to measure my tone in a way that would leave no room for interpretation.
She hung her head in reverence, the tension creeping into her posture communicating that she got the message. "Yes, Dominus."
"And make sure we will not be disturbed," I added as she scrambled to get out of the door. "I may have been willing to overlook this indiscretion for now but another faux pass will see you flying down the hospital's incinerator shoot before you have time to come up with an apology.
There was no way I could make good on my threat – the risk of detection far outweighed the benefits of being rid of Heidi's incompetent self – but, judging by the way the poor woman practically flew out of the office, she had not yet come to that same conclusion.
I chuckled, once more turning my attention to my current task at hand.
The Swan girl.
And so – with a deep breath to cleanse myself of all the base human emotions that were coursing through my body, I dug around in my desk drawer, trying to find another one of the many pre-paid telephones that allowed me to communicate with my soldiers without having to worry about tiresome dangers like the police listening in.
"Dominus?" a husky woman's voice breathed, answering my call after only the first ring. Now that was what I called a soldier worthy to serve in the Volturi guard.
"I am so sorry to interrupt you, my dear questitor," I answered. "But there is a matter that needs our urgent attention."
As I proceeded to explain to her what needed to be done and how I would prefer for her to see to it, she never as much as raised her voice in protest or made any other of the sounds of shock and horror I so often encountered when giving an order to one of my subordinates.
No, not she.
My little questitor and her husband had been quite recent additions to my guard but already they were proving to be of immeasurable value. Where others sometimes seemed to linger only because we gave them no choice, they actually seemed to enjoy the meetings and all the benefits that came with a Volturi membership.
"I will see it done, Dominus," she stated solemnly when I finished telling her about her new assignment. "You will be proud of me."
"I have no doubt of it," I smiled, "though I will be sad to see you absent from tonight's event." In lieu of a famula to service my needs I had been briefly toying with the idea of enlisting her services as an impromptu meretrix. But alas, that wasn't to be.
"Keep me informed of your progress throughout the night," I warned her. "If need be I will step in myself to see this matter properly addressed."
"Of course," she answered before I took my leave of her and broke the connection.
A satisfied smile crept onto my face as I turned around, studying the foggy skies and the faint outlines of Seattle landmarks looming up from inside them.
It was about time the Swan girl learned not to meddle in powers way beyond her comprehension.
The sooner that lesson would register, the sooner she'd be ripe for the plucking.
I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this little chapter. I hope Dominus didn't gross you out too badly. Reviewers will get another (tiny) teaser for chapter 14.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss Baby