Chapter 14

The whole following day, I was drawing pictures. A lot of them-well-all of them looked really awful, but that didn't seem to stop me. I drew pictures of Caius fighting the newborn, me ice skating, him falling on the ice etc. Caius was remotely quiet again, writing letters and tying them in maroon colored bows. Overall, the day looked like it was going to be a boring one.

"How old were you when you were turned into a vampire?" I asked, trying to make a conversation.

"Twenty-three," Caius told me without looking up from his work.

"Wow. You're only four years older than me!"

Caius gave me the look. "No. I am over two thousand years older than you."

"Oh, right."

Caius did his own little way of rolling his eyes before collecting a remotely long letter that hung off the other side of the desk. He pulled out another boring ribbon and neatly tied it up in a scroll.

"You should use some pink ribbons," I informed him.

"No."

"I bet the people you write to are always so bored of the same old maroon ribbons."

Caius sighed. "Your concern for their mental suffering of ribbon colors is touching."

"I'm just saying," I shrugged. "You should just change the color up a bit."

"Hmph," Caius murmured, ending that conversation. The door knocked twice, which caught both of our attentions. "Demetri, I repeat that I will converse with you about it later, alright?"

The door opened, and it wasn't Demetri. It was a woman. A seriously beautiful woman. Her hair was stringy blonde, curling in all different directions. Her figure was hidden between dark robes, the same type of robes that Caius wore. And then there were her eyes, which were the eyes of a bloodlust crazy maniac. Caius's face, despite her beauty, turned into a deep scowl.

"Why are you here?"

The woman didn't look as startled at his demand as me. "Aro invites you to an activity in his quarters. Do you accept the invitation, dear?"

Caius turned sour. "Do not call me dear."

"I apologize, dear."

"I will be there," Caius growled. "Please close the door behind you, Athenodora."

I blinked. Athenodora. Caius's wife.

Caius's wife?

"Of course," Athenodora bowed a fraction, and then headed back towards the door. Her pace decreased when she realized a human was in her husband's room, leaning casually against the bookshelf. You could see the confusion sweeping through her maniac eyes as she turned back to Caius.

"I see," she murmured. "You have a snack."

I shuddered. One, because Caius wasn't looking very protective. And two, her words were basically the same thing James had said before he started tracking me. 'You brought a snack?'

"No snack," Caius told her quickly. "She belongs to the Cullens. Aro ordered me to watch over her until they return."

Athenodora still stared at me with that luscious smile.

"Anyone who harms her will face a severe punishment," Caius added.

"Well, dear," Athenodora tore her eyes away from me. "I am shocked to find you accept the terms of not eating her. She smells delicious."

I liked his wife less and less. Something about her was so deadly and haunting. Her eyes burned with a message that said: I'll be back to kill you later…

"Away with you!" Caius told her impatiently. Athenodora obeyed and lightly closed the door behind her. The second she was gone; I looked at Caius frantically.

"THAT'S your wife?"

"Unfortunately," Caius sighed. "And if your small, human brain is wondering why I acted so cruel to my own mate, it is because she irritates me and I will be overjoyed when Aro allows me execute her."

Well, I guess that answered half of the questions I was thinking about. "Why are her eyes so…crazy looking?"

"Athenodora has never been that great with containing her hunger. Let's just leave it at that," Caius stood up and headed towards the door. "She has never interested me. I only married her to increase my reputation. I had believed some point in my life that I would actually be pleased with her being at my side."

"Your mistake."

"Yes, my mistake."

There were still a lot of questions I wanted to ask. Like, would she try to eat me in my sleep? Or if Caius would try to use Athenodora's hunger for me as an excuse to execute her. But I left it at that and hoped for the best. Caius began to lecture me about why we were even leaving in the first place. "About every month or so, Aro invites Marcus and I to play Chess in his quarters. You will unfortunately have to join us this time."

I was stunned. "You like playing Chess?"

"Yes, mortal."

"A Chess-lover. You."

Caius huffed loudly. "Not a Chess-lover. More like a Chess-admirer. It is the ultimate activity for the Volturi."

"Oh. So Jane and Felix and all them know how to play too."

"Yes. Everyone knows how to play."

"That's cool. Can I show Aro how to play Pac-man?"

"Do not dare."

I smiled to myself. I knew the reason Caius refused to let me show off the Nintendo game. Knowing Aro, he would probably be way too fascinated by it and totally ignore playing Chess. And that would make wittle, whiny Caius all alone with no one to play with.

The doors to the three Volturi leaders weren't that far apart. In fact, they were in the same hallway, which confused me why Aro would have to send Athenodora. Never the less, Caius headed towards the black door in the center of the hallway and turned the knob.

I would like to start criticizing about how bad Aro's room was, like I did with Caius, but truly, I could not find one thing wrong with it. The walls were silver marble without any scratches or spiders in the corners, with large matching carpets, a few desks that looked recently purchased, and a variety of black chairs. There were two main seats in the center of the room with a marble table in the middle. Aro and Marcus were both sitting in the main seats, eyes fixed on the chessboard spread out on the table. Aro's ruby eyes snapped out of his concentration when he heard the sound of the door opening.

"Ah, Brother Caius and the lovely Bella make it after all!" Aro stood up, smiling brightly. "I apologize for not retrieving you myself! I was otherwise occupied with this intense game. It seems as though I am about to lose to Brother Marcus. A pity, really. I am finally beaten."

"Finally?" Caius arched an eyebrow while approaching the table. "You haven't beaten I since the day we were introduced to the game."

Aro laughed. "Oh, dear me, Caius. I no longer count you as a worthy opponent, for I am not match for you."

Caius nodded once in satisfaction, and motioned me to also approach the table. Aro leaned over Caius's shoulder to look at me. "Forgive me, young Bella, for not greeting you earlier. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Excellent. Would you care to play?"

"Um, no thanks," I said quickly. Truthfully, I had no idea how to play chess. I didn't even know how to play checkers. Aro merely smiled at my answer, accepting the fact that I didn't care to join them, and sat himself back in his chair to finish playing Marcus.

"Your hand looks lovely today, Marcus," Aro grinned. "Can I not have a closer look?"

"Nice attempt," Marcus muttered in a rough voice, while hiding his hand in his robes. "You are not reading my thoughts."

Aro beamed in evil disappointment, and continued with the game. I took a seat next to Caius who was studying the game as intently as his fellow Volturi leaders were. "Hey…can I play Pac-man?"

"I thought it was out of battery."

"Remember? I bought a battery before we went to the shampoo store. At the Apple Store."

"Oh yes," Caius growled. "How could I forget?"

I took that as a 'yes' and switched the on button. Caius flinched when he heard the little Pac-man song. "Would you shut off the sound? I don't want-"

"Is that by any chance the catchy tune I heard on St. Marcus's Day?" Aro was looking at us, trying to catch a glimpse of the Gameboy.

Caius glared at me. "Nice."

"Oh, shut up," I told him back.

"I do find this little cube material fascinating," Aro's eyes were amused. "Is it a game?"

"Yes, yes it is," I answered, despite Caius's deep scowl. "Would you like me to teach you?"

"Teach me?" Aro's face lit up. "Lovely Bella, I couldn't be more honored! I hope you do not mind, but I would love if you could postpone the instructions until my defeat?"

"Sure," I smiled back. "Take all the time you need."

Aro turned back to his game, waiting for Marcus to make his final movement. But Marcus wasn't looking at the game. His glossy red eyes were narrowed in confusion as he stared at Caius and then at me. Back and forth. His expression made me wonder what was going through his head but he quickly looked away, as if the thought he was thinking wasn't that important.

"You irritate me numerously," Caius told me scornfully.

"Old news, dude."

Caius looked like he wanted to say more, but he locked his lips in a very frustrated line. I started playing Pac-man, dodging all the ghosts and eating as much dots as possible. Caius seemed to be watching my game as well, since he kept scowling at pink ghost. "I still want his soul."

After some time, Marcus seemed to win the game between him and Aro. Caius sat in Aro's chair to start a new game, while Aro eagerly sat in the chair next to mine. His expression was scaring me. "I am ready to learn more interesting mortal activities!"

"Great!" I said in a fake tone. "Okay, here's how you control…"

It took less than thirty seconds for Aro to figure it out. He started laughing the moment I gave him the Gameboy. "Oh, this is utterly amusing! Ha! I must send for Demetri to fetch me one of these at once!"

"I'm…really glad you like it, Aro."

He continued to laugh, even though he got tagged almost every time. Once it said 'game over,' he instantly restarted it. Then to make things worse for Caius, he demanded Marcus to come watch him play. "Look, Brother! Look at how fascinating this little box is!"

Marcus didn't answer, but he did watch. Caius was in rage being all alone. Slowly, I walked over and sat in Marcus's chair. It really was my fault that he didn't have anyone to play with anymore. Even though it was useless, I offered to play him until Aro and Marcus were done with Pac-man.

"You know how to play?" Caius demanded.

"Oh…yea…yea I play all the time," I lied casually. I wasn't sure if he could tell I was lying, but he set up the pieces anyway, and moved first. Most of the time, where I moved the white pieces weren't even legal, so Caius had to pick out a spot for me. Still, I lost. Brutally.

"Checkmate," Caius sneered as he cornered my 'king.'

"Does that mean I lose?"

"Yes."

"Damn," I sighed, even though I wasn't that disappointed. "Well…"

"I knew from the beginning that you could not play," Caius told me. "I am surprised you decided to play me anyway."

"You looked so alone…"

"Hmm. You interest me," Caius left it at that, and gathered all the remaining pieces on the chess board. From the corner of my eye, I saw Marcus, once again, watching us with a very confused expression.

Hmm. Looks like Marcus was reading there relationship…

Sorry if this didn't turn out good, I kind of rushed it…BUT STILL REVIEW! Review ^^