Confused and Concerned

Charlotte stopped me in my tracks when I reappeared in the Cullen house. Hands on her hips, she gave me an knowing look. "Alright, Spec, what the hell is going on with you? You keep disappearing with a sly look of mischief on your face - believe me, I've seen it on Peter's face often enough to easily recognize it, then returning wearing an expression of confusion and concern. I know you're stirring up trouble somewhere, but it isn't going the way you expected, is it? Do we need to be watching our backs?"

She was quiet, but she'd caught Peter's attention with ease, and he came over to join us. Eyeing me carefully, he asked, "Do we need to go for a walk?"

I thought about whether or not to confide in them, but gave in to the impulse. Like it or not, I was in over my head with the whole Marcus situation. I was finding myself craving his company even more strongly than the last time I'd been away from him. "Actually, I do need to talk to someone, but I don't want to do it in front of everyone yet. Can we go somewhere we won't be overheard?" I whispered just loudly enough for the two of them to hear.

"Peter? Charlotte? What's wrong?" Jasper called, wandering into the room in response to their emotions.

"We're going for a run," Char informed him firmly, grabbing Peter's arm and pulling him toward the door. Peter nodded, following his mate.

Jasper narrowed his eyes at me and decided, "I think I'd better come along too."

"Wait for me!" Alice cried, dashing down the steps to join him. "Where are we going?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes, teleporting to the trees just ahead of where Peter and Char were already running. "Let's get out of here before anybody else decides to join the party."

"Wait!" Edward yelled, jumping out the window of his bedroom and racing after us. "If this affects the family, then we have a right to know!" His words caught the attention of the rest of the family, who were then hot on his heels, spilling out of the house from wherever they'd been located.

Thank heavens the wolves went home while I was in Volterra, I thought to myself.

"Dammit, Edward!" I shouted angrily. "I know you heard me say I didn't want to talk to everyone yet!"

"I also heard Charlotte thinking you'd been stirring up trouble somewhere, and it wasn't going the way you'd hoped. You brought the hybrids to us and involved the wolves in hunting Victoria, all without our knowledge. I admit it went well, the understanding and acceptance of the wolves going better than any of us thought possible, but it could've gone the other way.

I know you're on our side and trying to make things better for us, but you've been doing some of it without even consulting or confiding in us first. How do we you know you aren't bringing other troublemakers to our doorstep in an effort to change our future for the better? We have a right to know! It is our future, after all," he argued.

I sighed and grimaced. He had a point. Biting my lip, I waited until I was surrounded by the entire Cullen family, with the Whitlocks at my back. I spared a few moments to feels sorry for Bella, who'd been abruptly abandoned in Edward's bedroom while everyone chased after me and now found herself alone in the house, wondering what had gone wrong.

"Well, I can tell you there has been a coup staged in Volterra. Aro, Sulpicia, Caius, Athenadora, Corin, Jane, and Felix are all dead. Afton and Chelsea are the new rulers," I announced, flinching at the rapid rate of questions that hit me in response. Holding up my hands, I gestured for them to quiet down and ask me one at a time.

Carlisle stepped up as leader and silenced the others. Turning back to me, he asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know if you're aware of Afton's gift, but he has a shield that protects him from mental gifts and allows him to be invisible to all but the most discerning. Someone who is determined can still detect him, but for those who are unaware, he doesn't leave a scent trail where he has been. I don't know the details, as I didn't witness it happen, but Afton killed Corin.

Corin's gift created a false feeling of contentment within those upon whom it was used, causing them to be content with their situation, no matter how unfair, abusive, or unpleasant their situation truly was. Additionally, her gift could be and was used without the knowledge or consent of others and was highly addictive. Without it, the victim would go into withdrawals and would be unable to feel good until receiving another dose from Corin. Corin was tied to Aro through a false bond of loyalty, the result of Chelsea's gift. Chelsea was kept tied to Aro through Corin's gift. As a shield, Afton wasn't subject to either Corin's or Chelsea's gift. Thus, his only loyalty was to his mate and himself.

At some point, Afton must have gotten frustrated by his mate's disregard of the mistreatment he felt at the hands of Aro and questioned why Chelsea's loyalty to the king was higher than her loyalty to her own mate. Once he removed Corin from the equation, Chelsea was no longer happy to blindly serve Aro and realized she could use her gift to benefit herself and her mate, rather than Aro. She must have cut all of the false bonds she'd created to Aro and the other kings, tying all of them to herself and Afton instead.

What I witnessed was her and Afton sitting on the thrones, with the third throne no longer present. She and Afton had the kings and their wives, along with the entire guard, swearing allegiance to the two of them as the new rulers of the vampire world. Corin was nowhere to be seen, and the wives, as well as Chelsea, Caius, and several of the guard members seemed to be going through severe withdrawal symptoms. Seeing Caius's distress at having to kneel before the new rulers caused Athenadora to snap and attack Chelsea. During the mayhem that followed, all those I mentioned were killed and burned to ash. Marcus and the other guard members kept off to the side, out of the way, to avoid being unwittingly dragged into the chaos."

"And where were you when all this chaos was occurring?" Edward demanded. Carlisle gave him a chastising look for speaking out of turn, but then turned and indicated he'd still like to hear my answer to the question.

I rolled my eyes and scowled at Edward. "Where do you think? I didn't want anybody to see me, so I perched up next to the ceiling at the edge of the throne room, hidden in the shadows. Marcus was the only one who bothered to look up and the only one who spotted me. Luckily, he chose not to draw attention to me. Everyone else was enthralled with the drama unfolding in front of them, completely oblivious to my presence."

Carlisle nodded thoughtfully. "Marcus's lack of interest in the proceedings allowed him to notice that which nobody else did. It was indeed fortunate for you his boredom with everything, including abnormalities, has been so high since losing his mate 2000 years ago. Anybody else would've raised the alarm upon spying you there. Now that Aro is gone, nobody will know, as Marcus apparently never speaks. He won't volunteer the information, and nobody will think to ask him."

"Even if they did, nobody would be able to trace her to us. They might even think he was hallucinating, since she doesn't leave a scent trail, and nobody else saw her," Jasper added.

I was glad Jasper couldn't feel my emotions, or else he would've known I was hiding things. Unfortunately, Charlotte was apparently good enough at reading faces not to need Jasper's gift.

"There's more, isn't there?" she asked, moving in front of me to stare into my eyes.

I frowned heavily and looked away. Biting my lip, I grumpily confessed, "The rest is personal. It has nothing to do with the family or the wolves or Bella or the hybrids. It's my problem, no one else's."

Esme caught on and stepped up beside Charlotte. "Ah, I see. The rest of you head on back to the house. Char and I are going to join Spec for a little girl talk. We'll see the rest of you later."

Rose and Alice were disappointed not to be included, but they couldn't argue with their mother figure and reluctantly ran back to the house with all the guys. Esme and Char continued running further away from the house, so we could talk out of hearing, thought, and emotional distance of the others.

Once they assured me we were far enough away, we stopped running. They took seats on nearby rocks, and I began pacing, trying to organize my thoughts.

"I feel drawn to Marcus," I confided. "It's weird. I want to be close to him. Even now, it . . . it's like it . . . almost like it aches to be away from him. I feel odd, hollow inside, like some vital part of myself is missing. I wouldn't say it hurts so much as it is a distinctly unpleasant sensation. Like when your limb falls asleep, and you're right on the verge of the pins and needles starting as soon as enough of the feeling begins to return to it. Or when you've pinched a nerve or overworked your muscle so it feels weak and unhappy, but not quite to the point of aching yet."

"Really?" Esme gasped, her mouth dropping open in shock.

Charlotte paused and narrowed her eyes at me. "You're describing the feeling of being away from your mate."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you sure? That's not possible, is it?"

Esme and Charlotte exchanged a speaking glance, then turned back to me. "I don't know," Esme admitted thoughtfully. "I thought there was only one possible soul mate for each of us, but then again, it has been two thousand years. If anyone deserves another chance at happiness, he does. I can't imagine anyone else continuing to survive that long after the death of their other half."

"You need to find out if he feels it too," Charlotte recommended. "It's possible you're misreading the situation. You need to talk to him. Once you've interacted, the bond will form between you, if it's meant to be."

Could he be feeling this too? I wondered, rubbing my chest. I decided, "I'm going now to check on him."

Without waiting for a response, I teleported into Marcus's private quarters back in Volterra.