Okay, I know it's been pretty long since I last updated. But exams were in my way and now I can safely say that they are over for a while!
Now about this chapter. I have been planning to write this chapter ever since I first started writing this story and you know maybe that's why I have a lot of expectations from it. But either way, I don't really know what happened to me but I am just not at all happy with this chapter. My writing style just went down the drain here and no matter how long I sat with it, I just couldn't bring myself to improve it in any way!

I hope you guys can over look it and read this chapter. I'm really sorry. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.

Enjoy! =)


Chapter 29

'Why don't you go back to the castle and I'll join you later?' Ariana told Alec as they neared the Volturi castle. 'I'll be back as soon as I'm done hunting.'

'You sure?' Alec asked.

Ariana nodded. She got on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

'Okay,' Alec said, kissing her back on the lips. 'Be back soon.'

Ariana nodded smiling and then headed the opposite direction towards the forest-.


'We meet again, Caius,' a deep voice said from the shadows and Caius turned to acknowledge it.

'Yes we do,' Caius said, in an equally grave tone.

Outside the borders of Volterra, deep within the forest, this secret meeting was taking place. Caius had stepped out of the Volturi castle without any one's knowledge of where he was.

'I see you failed to do it?' Caius said. 'We had a deal. And it looks like you're not upholding your end of it like you said you would.'

'Yeah well, I thought I had it the first time and I couldn't try for a second time seeing as how the bastard never left my tail.'

'You're losing your touch, Vladimir,' Caius smirked. 'Looks like depending on you was a wrong idea.'

'I'll have another go,' Vladimir replied. 'I want your part of the deal kept once I'm done. Killing the bastard or even mentally incapacitating him isn't an easy job.'

'Yes, of course,' Caius said. 'Once Alec is out of the way, getting Aro out will be only too easy.'

'I don't get it, why don't you just use the boy against Aro instead of killing him?' Vladimir asked.

'He and his sister only sore their allegiance to Aro,' Caius said. 'They are indebted to Aro only. They'd never leave his side.'

'What about his other members?' Vladimir asked.

'There's a lot in there who owe me favors,' Caius said. 'And I'll bring in as many as I can on my side.'

'His sister will never do it,' Vladimir said.

'Once Alec's out of the way and I have the members on my side, taking down Jane would be a walk in the park,' Caius said. 'It's Alec and his power that worries me. Either kill him or kill his mate. At least the latter will leave him as worthless as Marcus and he'll be an easy target. I'll see what I can do to make this easier for you seeing how last time wasn't easy enough. I've been planning this for centuries. Don't screw it up!'

'I don't plan to,' Vladimir said. 'There's nothing in it for me if I screw it up. As long as you keep your part of the bargain, I'll do my job.'

Caius nodded. 'If I can overthrow Aro, you and your coven will get your freedom.'

Vladimir smiled. There was no humor in that smile.

'What if he finds out?'

'He doesn't touch to know our secrets, me and Marcus, without our permission,' Caius explained. 'So as long as I don't hold my hand out to him we're safe.'


Hunting usually didn't Ariana very long. This time was no exception either. But she didn't want to go back as of yet. Her father's journal was still with her and in the quiet of the forest and the moonlight streaming in she could read it in peace without having to worry about being careful. She perched herself on a high enough branch that didn't scare the living daylights out of her. But then she thought about what Alec said, and she knew he was right. She couldn't be scared of heights. She needed to get over it. So she went up a little higher. She wanted to go higher than that but she figured she wasn't ready yet. If she did, she was sure she would be stuck up there unable to have the nerve to get back down.

She opened the journal and started reading. Quickly reading through, in no time she had reached the entry where her father had written about his visit to Volterra and his work at the excavation site.

A particular part of the extract caught her attention.

Skeletons after skeletons are being unearthed and the archeologists and anthropologist are saying that the corpses are centuries old. They are all excited now to find out how these people lived their lives centuries ago in this land and what ancient lifestyles they had led. The papers and materials found under the earth were however, passed on to me for inspection.

Not much of documents were found anyway, just a few pieces of parchment and a few worn out trinkets. My partner took over the trinkets while I sat with the papers. They are of a different script that I have never come across before. The writing though I yet cannot decipher, it's the drawings that bother me. They are disturbing.

The page ended there. Ariana swiftly turned the page to read on. But as her eyes fell on the page she gasped. There on that page her dad had attached what he had called the disturbing picture. The picture, by the looks of it obviously hadn't been dome by the greatest artist. Infact it looked like it was drawn by a kid in kindergarten except on ancient parchment. The picture was so old that it was almost fading in the paper.

Her father had been right. The picture definitely was disturbing to someone who had no idea about the existence of vampires. The unshapely figures drawn were given prominent fangs and red eyes. She knew that vampires didn't have fangs but the person who drew this certainly didn't. There was a lot of red in the picture that Ariana presumed was meant to be blood. The picture was surrounded by symbols that Ariana had no idea what they meant. But she could read her father's writing underneath.

This is the part of the parchment unearthed from the site. It does not belong to me but I have been granted permission to borrow this for a while as I carry out my research on this.

So this is what led her father to first find out about vampires.

Being so into the journal, she hadn't realized she was unconsciously shifting towards the edge of the branch. She suddenly heard the rustling of leaves and very abruptly with a small yelp she fell out of the tree and landed hard on the ground. It didn't hurt at all but the fall wasn't very smooth either. At least not for her nerves. Grumbling she got up, brushing the dirt off her clothes.

'Well, well, well, just who I wanted to see,' said a voice from the dark. Instinctively she hid her father's journal inside her jacket pocket and tried to look past the darkness to see to whom the voice belonged to.

It didn't take her long to find out because as soon as the figure stepped a little closer, even in the darkness she could clearly see that the voice belonged to none other than Caius.

What the hell is he doing in the forest?

'Why would you want to see me?' Ariana asked back. She didn't like Caius. There was always something off about him. His hunger for power showed in his eyes. It did so in Aro's too. But there was something ruthless about Caius that wasn't there about Aro. While Aro's mind was calculative, Caius's mind was straightforward and violent. Ariana neither liked him nor trusted him. And she had no wish to pretend to like him.

'Well, I suppose, to make a proposition,' Caius said.

'Proposition?' Ariana asked puzzled. Caius's mind was inconveniently blank so she couldn't get a clue out of there.

'I want you to get out of the Volturi,' Caius went straight to the point.

'Excuse me?' Ariana asked back frowning. She must have misheard. But she knew in the back of her mind that she couldn't have.

'I'm perfectly sure you heard me right,' Caius said. 'But still I'll repeat. I want you to leave the Volturi. Leave Alec. And never come back.'

'And why would I do that?' Ariana asked, coldly. If this man thought that she was going to do what he was telling her to do, he was positively insane.

'Because it's for the best,' Caius said.

'And how is that?' Ariana asked icily.

'The Volturi did better without you,' Caius spat at her. 'You brought weakness to this coven!'

'Aro has not expressed such opinions to me,' Ariana said back maintaining her icy tone.

'Well, Aro is blind on a lot of accounts,' Caius replied. From his tone Ariana thought her mention of Aro as though he was a superior to Caius had hit some part of his proud ego. But the expression of distaste was so short lived on his face that Ariana couldn't be sure. But Ariana had a sudden feeling that this had more to it than to only get her out of the Volturi and Alec's life. 'And that is when I step in to make him see right.'

So, this doesn't seem like the first time he's doing it.

This time however, Ariana could catch some thoughts from Caius's mind. Maybe Caius willingly thought about it or it could be that they had unwillingly come up. But whatever Ariana saw made eyes widen in shock. She stopped breathing.

'It was you,' she whispered. 'You got me kidnapped. You got me stabbed. You were helping the Romanians!'

She wanted Caius to deny it. But Caius didn't. He let a smile creep across his face.

'I wasn't helping the Romanians,' Caius replied. 'They were helping me.'

'You're delusional if you think I'm going to leave Alec,' Ariana made herself clear.

'But I'm not asking,' Caius said.

Ariana looked stonily back at him.

'How about a little incentive?' Caius asked.

Ariana didn't reply. Did he really think some sort of incentive would make her listen to him?

'You leave and I give you information about your father,' Caius said. 'I hear you were looking for him?'

Ariana's eyes widened even more. Did he really know about her father? Was he the one who spoke to her father if he made it to the Volturi.

'I think I'll pass thanks,' Ariana said, pushing the thoughts of her father far back in her mind. 'I'll look for him myself. But I'm not leaving.'

Ariana thought a flash of fury skipped across Caius's face.

'I don't get it,' Ariana said. 'If you really want me out of the way, why aren't you just killing me right here, right now? I see no one around to witness it.'

Ariana had no idea why in the world she was giving Caius such ideas. But something just wasn't adding up. Caius could get rid of her anytime he wanted. Like right at that moment. She was sure she wasn't as skilled a fighter as Caius yet, so Caius could really kill her almost easily. But he wasn't doing that. Instead he was telling her to leave and Ariana wanted to know why.

'Let's just say, I'm feeling generous today,' Caius said.

Yeah right! The day Caius would feel generous would be the day Ariana would go back and live with her abusing relatives. No, Caius was doing this for a reason and if Ariana could find that out maybe she could have something against him. But Caius's mind was still empty.

'So you will leave,' Caius said. 'And never come back. Never contact Alec in anyway.'

'I won't do it,' Ariana said.

'I make it my job to root out the weak, girl,' Caius said. 'And you can't stop me from doing that.'

Another flash of memory. This, Ariana was sure was something Caius was thinking very hard not to think about.

'I can't believe you,' Ariana gasped in disbelieve. 'That-you,' she was at a loss of word. She gulped and then got her composure back because the memory she had seen was a thousand times worse for her nerves than the fall from the tree had been. 'You poisoned Aro's mind into killing his sister!,' she said in a low voice because her nerves weren't letting her speak any louder. 'How could you? Do you have any idea what you done to Marcus? Do you have any idea the kind of remorse you make Aro feel?'

Caius shrugged. 'I did what I had to do,' he said in a low voice. The words came out as a hiss.

Of course Aro would never realize what Caius did. No matter how many time he delved into his mind. Caius was there talking Aro into it and Aro was agreeing to it in the end. He did it all in the open. It wasn't like it was a secret from Aro that Caius and Aro had talked about it.

'Now if you don't leave-,' Caius started.

'What are you going to do?' Ariana demanded. 'Poison Alec's mind into killing me?'

I'd really like to see that happen!

'No,' Caius said with a smile again. The smile gave Ariana the goose bumps.

'Kill me yourself?' Ariana said.

'Not that either,' Caius said. He stepped closer to Ariana so his mouth was inches away from her ear. 'I'll kill Alec and let you live the rest of eternity with that.'

'You won't,' Ariana said. She hated the fact that her voice shook. 'You wouldn't be able to.'

Caius laughed a mirthless laughter. 'Watch me.'

'You won't,' Ariana repeated but she wasn't so sure anymore.

'I have the people who'll get it done for me,' Caius said. 'Without Aro suspecting a thing.'

'You wouldn't dream of losing your best guard just because of me,' Ariana said.

'He is no better with you than he will be dead,' Caius said. 'Don't question my threats, Ariana. I usually have a knack for carrying them out to the word. Now, you want him dead or you want him alive, it's your choice. I'll give you a few hours to clear off. See that I don't see you anywhere around here tomorrow.'

With that he made to walk away. Then he turned again.

'Oh and if you tell Alec or anyone else about the conversation that took place here, he'll only be killed off faster,' Caius said. 'I wouldn't want him running to Aro now, would I?

Then leaving Ariana standing there, he left the forest.

People always said at times like these you're heart stopped beating. Ariana's heart had literally stopped beating a while ago but somehow she knew she was feeling the same sensation. Her throat constricted so much that it almost hurt as she stood immobilized to the spot where Caius had left her standing.

I'll kill Alec and let you live the rest of eternity with that.

Was it possible for a vampire to feel dizzy? Most probably not. But she wasn't so sure anymore. Because the same thing just went floating around in her mind and her surroundings started to come out of focus.

I'll kill Alec and let you live the rest of eternity with that.

As the words reverberated through and around her mind, not being able to take it anymore she broke off into a run.

Away from the castle or towards the castle, she had no idea. She didn't know what to do. But one thing she was sure she knew.

Alec could not die! She was never going to let that happen. She had to keep him alive! The mere thought of losing him drove her insane. Maybe somehow she was imagining the whole thing. Everything couldn't go wrong in the span of an hour like this!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Suddenly she collided against something wide and solid. She didn't fall because now she had good reflex.

She looked up and broke away from her thoughts to see what it was.

'Ariana.' Felix's fearful and apprehensive eyes were looking right back at her. 'I heard everything.'


So yeah, that was it. I ended it in a cliffie. That was my plan all along. Hope the chapter wasn't too bad though. And more questions are going to be answered in the chapters to come. More about Ariana's dad and more about Caius's plan. But any questions you guys have, you can ask me freely!

Now, thanks to BFABB, Cetacea-of-Time, D, Eastern Rose, Gigglegrape and ILoveReadingAndWriting for your reviews.
Hey, Wednesday, I missed your review in the previous chapter. Hope you're doing well. :)

I'll update as soon as I can. Let me know how this chapter went, okay. Fingers crossed! :)