Notes:

'Lo guys!

Hope you're enjoying the story!

Now, a little music…

In my mind, the opera song they sing in this chapter is called 'Grande Amore' by Il Volo (if you wanna go and listen to it, I would recommend it!)

It has a great 'something is about to happen' build-up to the first chorus which I think is perfect for this scene.

I hope you like it :)

Chapter 25

If anyone crosses me today, Carlisle thought as he stormed into the Volturi's palace behind his escort. I'll rip their head off.

He could feel the power inside him yearning to be let out, like a dog that wasn't walked enough, and God give him a reason…

He was on a worryingly short fuse, with the terrifying run-in with Esme's departed mother dusting the icing on the cake…which wasn't in fact a cake, but a very large bomb.

Carlisle could almost hear himself ticking. Tick, tick, tick…

But he couldn't explode. Because when he exploded, people got hurt.

Good, he thought savagely, when at the doors of the sickening mint-green elevator, (which had a very distinct 'dentist-feel'), Jane gave him a particularly bratty look.

Carlisle took in a breath.

Calm…calm…nice smooth ocean…calm…

…Peace and love. Peace and love, peace and love…

Jane shot him the look again and her brother turned to give him an identical one.

Aaaaand…peaceandlovepeaceandlove…peace and love…

"Peace and love, don't you think?" Carlisle said conversationally to the vampire next to him, trembling in the doctor's presence.

He squirmed not knowing what response Dīs Pater wanted.

What if he gave the wrong answer and caused another…accident?

Carlisle enjoyed the other vampire's discomfort for only a moment before feeling ashamed with himself.

Oh don't be a shit, Carlisle, he thought to himself, seeing how much he scared the creature next to him.

Not seconds later, the doors opened and Carlisle strode out into the opulent throne room.

The waiting audience felt to their knees.

"Dīs Pater," they chanted as one, as if they had been practicing.

They probably had.

Carlisle barely acknowledged the majority of his followers and made directly for Aro, flanked of course by Marcus, looking so bored he might kill himself, and Cauis who looked so angry he might kill everyone else.

"Aro, how nice to see you," Carlisle smiled.

The two men embraced like the good chums they were. Weren't they such good chums!

Carlisle hated the man.

Then came the inevitable moment where Aro extended his hand.

A simple handshake, it would seem, but, in accepting the gesture, Carlisle would open his mind to the most power-hungry vampire in the world, and that isn't what one does when they survive by weaving a web of lies.

Plus, Aro would find out how much his semi-romantic advances made Carlisle feel faintly sick, which could be taken as rather bad manners on the doctor's part.

"I'm afraid I can't," Carlisle said charmingly, as if it would have been his treat. "That would compromise the confidentiality of my patients."

The room chuckled dutifully, and for a moment Carlisle was struck again by how much his life had changed since he trudged his London street child. Never did the poor little Elephant Boy suspect that one day he would be the person whose jokes others were forced to laugh at.

"How are we all?" Carlisle asked the amassed group of Volturi guards, motioning casually for them to stand as he put his hands safely in his pockets, trying to look thoroughly unconcerned.

Nobody spoke, merely eyed the threat warily.

"We're all very happy," Marcus said with a sigh, not looking very happy.

"Good," Carlisle replied.

"Yes, good!" Aro repeated excitedly. "Because just last week we caught someone, didn't we Caius?"

The blond merely sneered.

"And we saved her for you!" the Volturi's leader cried happily.

Oh bloody hell! Carlisle thought. I bloody knew this would happen.

Internally, Carlisle sighed, knowing there wasn't really an escape.

He was also ashamed at the flicker of excitement he felt at the thought of taking another vampire's life.

Carlisle had acted as executioner before - he supposed he had no excuse not to. He was better qualified than any other vampire to do so and supposedly enjoyed the act.

"Alrighty, then," Carlisle said with the same bravado, checking the time very obviously on his Rolex as he did so, as if the thought of snuffing out a fellow consciousness merely bored him. "Bring the accused forwards."

There was a quiet scuffle from one of the antechambers of the throne room and then a female with startlingly red hair was dragged before her executioner. The redhead stiffened with fear as she set eyes on him, and Carlisle knew she knew exactly who and what he was.

"What is your name?" Dīs Pater demanded of his subject.

"Victoria," Aro said at last, after the female had given no answer.

"Do you have a coven?" Carlisle asked.

Silence. The woman merely glowered.

"What is your gift?" Carlisle tried again, realising that this was going to be a longer few days than he had thought.

Again, Victoria didn't answer and Jane looked to Aro eagerly knowing her talents may soon be required.

"She can sense danger and evade it," Aro said excitedly, eyes flipping greedily from the doctor to the criminal. "That's why she's proven so slippery to catch. She made a newborn army, you know."

He shrugged with a small smile of his thin lips.

"I fear…her end grows closer…"

Carlisle sighed with frustration.

Newborn army. That was death for sure.

He would have no opportunity to spare her now.

"Quite," Carlisle said, his eyes fixed on his victim. "You know who I am, don't you?"

Victoria stared at him unblinkingly. He saw the terror in her eyes, and knew how much her apparent stoicism was costing her.

"Then…Victoria the nomad," Carlisle announced. "I sentence you to die."

Aro looked at if he would pee himself with excitement.

Dīs Pater was going to execute! His favourite!

However, when the man strode forward, anger in his gait, he walked past his victim.

"Come with me," he hissed to her.

"Not here?" Aro said lightly, disappointed.

Carlisle rounded on Aro. The other's man's fascination with what Carlisle could do sickened him, and frankly irritated him.

"No," he said plainly.

Ignoring the stares behind him, Carlisle took Victoria firmly by the arm and led her out of the chamber, down a long passageway and to a secluded little room which was surprisingly cosy despite its which stone walls.

"Please, have a seat," Carlisle invited politely, as if she were a patient in his clinic, rather than another in the long list of the victims of Death.

"Who are you?" she whispered, not understanding the power she sensed in him.

How could he be so…so…?

"My name is Carlisle," he told her softly. "Now, Victoria, I don't want to instil any false hope. Today is your time. I have not brought you here to spare your life. Rules were broken, and if you are not punished accordingly, our entire justice system falls apart. You do see this?"

"Then why am I here?" she snapped, scared, not angry.

"I want to hear what you have to say," Carlisle told her. "And I'm very much in favour of the preservation of dignity in the case of dying."

He chuckled.

"I've been to an awful lot of conferences on the matter."

Carlisle sat too.

"Why did you create a newborn army?" he asked the accused.

"To avenge my mate, James," she said bluntly. "He was killed by another coven."

"Hmmm," Carlisle said, trawling through the memories of the dead. "James. Blond fellow? Hair in a ponytail?"

Victoria nodded.

"A fairly noble intent," Carlisle decided. "Though you, in turn, destroyed the loved ones of many others in doing so, did you not?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Do you feel any remorse?" Carlisle wondered.

"Not for the ones I killed," she told him.

"Yet you yourself are afraid of dying?"

"I'm not afraid of dying," Victoria said, though as she did her voice broke and she started shaking.

Fuck, Carlisle thought to himself.

Killing never got any easier, and this nomad reminded him very much of a scared Rosalie. However, he was careful to hold the calm expression on his face.

"Everyone is afraid of Death," he said gently. "And it is nothing to be ashamed of."

Carlisle couldn't tell if Victoria was comforted by this since her eyes were looking anywhere but at Death and his freaky golden eyes.

"Do you follow the word of God?" he asked her.

"I…used to," she whispered.

Suddenly, all of the teachings of her human faith were coming back to her.

"What's going to happen to me?" she whispered, imagining the fiery hell of her transformation.

"That is for you to discover," Carlisle said. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

She was shaking now.

"But Victoria," Carlisle murmured, talking both her her hands in his. "I promise you, it's going to be alright…"

And Death took her into his arms.

A day-and-a-half later (of which Carlisle feel every second), he, Aro, Caius and Marcus sat smoking cigars in the the cards room in Volterra. They could have almost been a group of old Etonians catching up.

"How are your wives?" Carlisle asked, tapping the ash from the end of the cigar jauntily.

"Wonderful," Aro replied. "And what about your own…conquests?"

Carlisle grinned.

"Wonderful, too," he lied with a smirk. "Or maybe it's too wonderful, I don't know."

Aro gave a girlish giggle.

"Well, Carlisle, if ever your human consorts disappoint, my offer still stands," he simpered.

"Very kind," the doctor replied, wondering why his repeated and exaggerated reminders to Aro that he was decidedly heterosexual fell on deaf ears.

Is if I'm going to let you touch my balls you grubby little man!

"And my wife is also at your disposal, should you wish it," Aro continued.

Carlisle gave a cough and shifted awkwardly in his chair.

"Most generous," he smiled tightly.

Then, he gave what he hoped could pass as a contented sigh.

"Well, I ought to be going," he announced with a dash of polite regret. "Fantastic to see you all."

Aro pouted.

"So soon, my friend?"

"I'm afraid so," Carlisle said firmly.

"The doctor is probably very busy," Caius said in his typically snake-like manner. "And has to get home soon."

Aro huffed.

"Won't you stay a little longer?" he said, beady eyes glinting.

"I have other commitments," Carlisle said.

"Please! You must stay for the opera!"

"Aro, I'm afraid I-"

"I insist."

Ah. Fuck.

The relationship between Aro and Carlisle was a power play, plain and simple. Carlisle was willing to let Aro rule in the interest of keeping the peace and allowing him the time for Medicine and his family. However, it was an unspoken truth that Carlisle had more power - Aro's utter humiliation in the face of the accident had proven that most satisfactorily. It was therefore important that Carlisle show submission to Aro's whims, to prove loyalty.

The beast in Carlisle was furious that there was another creature in the vampire world with more influence then he had himself, but he knew it was wiser to watch from afar. You know, back in the US with his family and his job and his home and his Esme…

The beast became angrier.

Who was this piece of vermin who deemed himself worthy enough to keep him any longer from his Esme?

Esme who had suffered a very traumatic thing, and then Rosalie and Edward had…

"Wonderful," Carlisle said politely, as his fist curled tightly behind his back, Rosalie's piece of goodwill angering hm further.

Now, his smooth, calm ocean began to simmer.

The doctor barely noticed Aro's chatter as he walked with him to Volterra's theatre. He was now the statue he resembled. Stoic. Calm. And certainly would not throttle the man walking next to him.

Carlisle's face was even inscrutable as he picked up the mask Aro had provided for him, following the Masquerade theme.

"Doctor Death," he said, as his simmer became slightly more of a boil. "Fitting."

He even managed a tight smile. See? He had smiled at Aro. That was nice and friendly.

In their box at the theatre, Aro sat a little too close, like he always did, and Carlisle became hyperaware of where those rather avian hands of Aro's were.

But, the little man was not interested in Carlisle's belt buckle today, as he often saw fit to admire, rather he was staring entranced at the stage, where the show was set to begin.

Then the doors opened and the babble of human voices got louder as the theatre filled with tourists.

"Hang on…" Carlisle said, strangely wary. "Humans too?"

"It's not fair to keep our art to ourselves, is it?" Aro asked him sagely.

Carlisle shifted awkwardly.

"I suppose not," he allowed, turning back to the stage.

Human families in the stalls excitedly hushed one another as the music started and the spotlight (rigged for their benefit) switched on.

It was a daylight lamp, and the audience 'oooh-ed' obediently as the performers started to glitter, thanking the makeup they imagined the men to be wearing for the effect.

"Chiudo gli occhi e penso a lei," began the first singer, obviously identifiable as a vampire by the sweetness of his voice. "Il profumo dolce della pelle sua…È una voce dentro che mi sta portando…dove nasce il sole…"

Carlisle felt the sense of anticipation growing in his belly. And, with increasing unease, thought it wasn't the crescendo of the music that he was waiting for.

"Sole sono le parole," sang the second vampire, who had a raspier voice but was equally talented. "Ma se vanno scritte tutto può cambiare…Senza più timore te lo voglio urlare…questo grande amore…"

A beautiful smile, an almost childlike smile, stretched across the performer's glittering face.

"…Amore, solo amore…è quello…che sento…"

Now it was the turn of the third man and the tempo of the music quickened, like a rainstorm growing more urgent.

"Dimmi perché quando penso, penso solo a te…"

The immobile, masked population of the theatre became suddenly more pronounced to Carlisle as he realised just how many of them there really were.

The lights dimmed further.

"Dimmi perché quando vedo, vedo solo te…"

The doors were shut and vampires moved to guard every entrance.

"Dimmi perché quando credo, credo solo in te…"

The three singers moved to stand together and sing in unison as the silent population of the theatre stood up.

"….Grrrrrrande amooooore…"

And then Carlisle smelled blood.

Thick…human blood, tinged with terror and the residue of happiness - the perfect blend of chemicals.

God he wanted it, but the more active part of his brain was already reaching for the medical bag he had forgotten he didn't have with him.

Blood! Emergency!

He watched his supernatural brothers and sisters swimming in carnage.

How…ashamed he was. After all he had strived to achieve…

"Stop," Carlisle said.

The slaughter continued.

The burn, not in Carlisle's throat, but in his stomach became unbearable.

Finally, he boiled over.

"I SAID STOP!" he shrieked.

As one, the room turned to face the doctor, who only then realised he was on his feet, no…not on his feet.

The air was black, as if with soot, and Carlisle was standing on his own cloud of fury, above the heads of the other vampires in his box. Trying not to look too stunned, Carlisle let himself gently back onto the plush carpet.

"Look around you!" he shouted and his voice ricocheted off the walls. "Are you animals?"

"This is how things are done in Volterra," Aro said with an assuredness that evaporated very soon as Carlisle rounded on him.

"Not anymore."

"W-was that a challenge?" Aro asked, eyes wide.

"That was an order," Carlisle shot back.

The walls should have crumbled, tectonic plates should have jarred, volcanoes should have erupted to mark the transference of centuries worth of ruling power in the vampire world.

Dīs Pater had pulled rank.

There was no going back.

As it was, only the gazes of the Volturi searing into the two men marked the occasion but the atmosphere was so alive with electric menace that even the dying humans were silent.

"From now on, you will feed…respectfully," Carlisle commanded curtly, no room in his tone for interpretation.

The man was livid.

"You will not kill children purposefully," he continued louder still. "And you will not slaughter the art-lovers, for God's sake,"

"And what, pray tell, has changed your mind?" Aro breathed, undecided of whether he was breathless with excitement or rage after Carlisle's moment of dominance.

A pair of brown eyes twinkled across Carlisle's mind and compared to their owner's intrinsic goodness, the whole of Volterra made him what to retch.

"That is none of your concern," Carlisle spat.

"Are you leaving us?" Caius drawled, trying desperately not to look as scared as he felt.

He could have meant more than just the opera.

Carlisle ignored him.

"You might as well finish what you've started today," Carlisle said to the vampires. "Dispose of the dead with dignity and leave no survivors - no human should have to live with this."

With that, Carlisle dumped his cloak on the floor, calmly removed his mask and left.