A few hours had passed since Callen left and Marcus was growing weary of being near Athenodora. He had managed to forget how annoying she was but it was now coming back to him. Being as uninterested as he was, he began mentally picking apart the woman's outfit. It was something Callen had taught him and it seemed a good way to pass the time.

Her clothing was all new and obviously expensive, indicating she was putting her fortune to good use. The pieces fit perfectly and made for a nice outfit. Offsetting the whole look however, was her necklace. It was a glass bottle of some sort tied to a tattered leather cord. Marcus recognized it but he couldn't exactly remember where. The harder he tried to remember, the more difficult it seemed to become. That was when he realized that his vision was almost fuzzy and his brother's eyes were completely unfocused. Aside from natural gifts, there was only one force on earth that could affect multiple vampires this way.

Moving suddenly and swiftly, Marcus rushed Athenodora and caught her by surprise. The leather cord was broken, the bottle clattered to the floor, and was immediately followed by the King's heel. Athenodora screamed then attempted to back away. Her escape was blocked by Caius. His eyes were no longer unfocused and he looked furious beyond anything anyone had seen.

"You would dare attempt to use witchcraft of us?! This is how you spent your freedom?! Learning ways to try to ensnare us?!" Each question Caius asked was accentuated with a step forward. The woman scurried backward, stammering excuses and apologies, until the bodies of the guard stopped her again. The Kings stood before her in a line. They all looked livid, nearly beyond reason.

"We have spent months doing everything to make our mate happy and comfortable! Now you have managed to upset her and she's out there alone doing who knows what because she thinks we care more for you than her! Tell me what that necklace was supposed to do, now!" Aro's voice didn't hold an ounce of politeness or friendship. It was taking all of his willpower to stay in the throne room instead of running to find Callen. By the twitching of their hands, Aro could tell his brothers felt the same way.

Athenodora looked down at her hands, ashamed of herself. A guard member grabbed her and secured her arms behind her so she couldn't attempt an escape. The low growl from Caius finally prompted her to speak.

"I met a witch who promised that if I used that bottle, any man would fall in love with me. We, I mean Sulpicia and I, had been told about your new Queen. I was jealous and I wanted to hurt her. I decided to have one of you hurt her instead, only I didn't plan on it being so easy."

Loud growls filled the room then the Kings brushed past the woman on their way to the door. For a moment, the woman thought she wasn't going to be punished. Caius, however, had a plan for the woman he used to call mate. Without even slowing down, the man grabbed a lighter from his pocket and threw it at her. It was rigged to explode and as soon as it hit her skin, explode it did. She screamed and dropped to the floor trying to put the fire out to no avail. Athenodora, ex-mate of a Volturi King, was gone.

Searching the castle at vampire speed took only a few minutes for the Kings. Once it was clear that Callen had left the castle, the brothers began searching for her freshest trail. They could only hope that she had walked somewhere and not used her gift to jump. All three men knew that they had some serious apologizing to do.