Disclaimer:
I own no part of the 'Twilight Universe'. Only the idea to this story. This is strictly for fun.
Author'snote: Unbeta'ed
Hi to all of you. Here is the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Previously:
The plan was still standing, and Marcus along with me and Gianna would stay here in the room with Bella, while guards would be placed in the study and before the balcony.
Now all we had to do was wait for the wretched woman to come.
Chapter 35 (Demetri'spov)
When Master Marcus had sent us out we dispersed throughout the city. Chelsea, Corin and I kept close to the wrong trails Gianna had laid in Isabella's stead. They were faint, but still easy enough to pick up on. The weather was unstable; the sun broke through the clouds often and it made it more difficult for us to roam the city. I could feel all the others close by. My senses were on high alert and I endlessly flipped through the different mental signatures of those in town. The towns people's were easy to block. I was waiting for a certain vibe though, a vampiric one. Much like the human scent differed from ours, so did their mental essence. Over time I had perfected the skill to categorize the gist I caught into human and vampiric. It made tracking people so much easier. I simply blocked all things human out.
I loved a good hunt, it excited me, and I got almost high on the thrill of a good chase. When I had completed a task, it gave me a feeling of accomplishment, of pride.
From the few memories I had retained of my human life, those of hunting were the clearest. I knew I had been an excellent huntsman, an excellent tracker.
I smiled to myself; I still was.
This was an interesting task and failing was not an option. Isabella was going to become my new mistress, our new mistress; a third wife.
Even after only a few days a change was clearly visible in many of us; with Master Marcus though it was most prominent, of course. His voice held emotion now, his eyes life; and it had been instantaneous.
I recalled her arrival again, how he had defended her to us, she had smelled simply mouthwatering, tantalizing. Just thinking about her had the venom pooling in my mouth.
I shook my head. Those thoughts wouldn't do. I would never delude myself into thinking, that I would endeavour to challenge someone by going after their mate, to covet what was someoneelse's, and especially not Master Marcus' mate. That was one foolproof way to get yourself killed, permanently.
I shuddered. The ancients were something else entirely. I looked up to them. For me it was an honour to serve in their guard, let alone be in charge of most missions. They trusted me, as much as they would ever trust someone outside their family, and I would not disappoint them.
Hours slipped by and we were still patrolling the town. Some were getting restless, their anticipation was getting the better of them. I reprimanded them silently- to a human it would seem I was talking to myself- and they calmed down some.
The sun had set and twilight was coming to an end when I picked up on it, a faint gist of an unknown vampire's mind. That would have to be her. She wasn't close enough yet to get a clear read, but she was nearing swiftly. Quickly I sent a short message to Chelsea and the others, ordering her to join me and telling the others to stay back. Sometimes the modern media were a blessing. Now it was getting interesting.
Only a few moments later Chelsea strolled casually over to me, a smirk on her lips. This was like a game to her, one she was eager to win.
"Where from?" She simply asked.
"South west. Soon." I replied.
"Good," she nodded.
There was no need to say more than that. I concentrated hard on greeting her and introducing her to our Masters, I managed to keep thoughts about the danger we posed to her under lock and key.
Among the guard we had mused how her 'gift', if she really possessed one, might work. We had come to the agreement that we would try to be as non- threatening in our words and actions as possible, without seeming suspicious, because anger or threat showed in both voice and body-language. My guess had been that she 'only' was a master of reading those signs.
We heard her scaling the wall and enter the city. We all still stood frozen, not giving our presence away to let her have a few moments to acclimate to the city, to the scents of various vampires, to catch Isabella's sweet scent. If she was as badly driven by her need for revenge as we assumed, the prospect of fulfilling her dreams would likely taunt her to take greater risks than she usually would do; sort of like tunnel vision.
Upon my nod, Chelsea and I slowly made to meet her.
Moments later we found her, already hot on one of the false trails.
"Good evening, Miss," I greeted. She had already crouched low, her black eyes flicking around, no doubt memorizing routes of escape. To me she looked crazed. Slowly, the tension of her stance receded.
"Welcome to Volterra, city of the Volturi, Legislator and Executor of our kind," I continued, when I got no answer.
"We are Chelsea and Demitri. We guard the town tonight. Be informed, hunting within the city premises is forbidden," I told her, as I would any other visitor.
She straightened up at that, a smile ghosted over her features.
"Is that so? The Volturi?" She asked, not giving her name.
I nodded.
To my surprise a childish laughter bubbled up and spilled over her lips. Yes, she had definitely lost it. We were no laughing matter. She would understand that soon enough.
"State your name and business here," I demanded.
Acting according to protocol made it easier for me to refrain from slipping in my thoughts and actions.
"Ah, of course, how impolite. Victoria, and I know about a human, who knows of our existence," the redhead stated smugly. Chelsea gasped softly and looked at me with wide eyes.
A perfect act, I'd give her ten points out of ten for that.
The female relaxed further and her grin grew more prominent.
"I followed her here, you see, to take care of this problem, so I would like to ask permission to take care of her for you," she told us in a saccharine voice.
This went better than expected.
"We are not authorized to make such a decision, but I am certain our Masters would be very interested in your knowledge; not to mention grateful that you put in so much effort to ensure the safety of our race," I explained.
"I would make it quick and inconspicuously, no need to involve your Masters," she bargained, looking nervously between the two of us.
"I am afraid it is unavoidable. If what you say is true, this is a matter of great importance. The Masters would wish to know all about it, especially who the culprit was, that betrayed our most sacred law; the punishment would most certainly be the final death," Chelsea spoke up, and I could see, where she was going with this. She smiled sweetly, but it didn't escape my notice, how intently she looked at the woman before us. She was working her magic but it seemed to took an unusual amount of effort on her part.
Our heads whipped to the right from where Corin appeared.
"A human knows? Really?" she whisper screamed.
"Hi Demetri, hi Chelsea. You are Victoria, right? I'm Corin, I couldn't but overhear... whoever it is must die, we can't have humans running around knowing of us!" she went on.
Victoria agreed enthusiastically with her, nodding her head.
"Tell me all about it!" she begged the witch.
"It's a young woman, nothing special, brown hair, brown eyes. She escaped me once and fled to your city. She must know about you. Let's kill her now, then she won't be able to tell anyone!" she urged.
Corin was standing close to her now, in reaching distance.
"But we really need to tell the Masters first. If we don't, it would get us all into huge trouble," Corin whined very convincingly, but it didn't sway the redhead, who inched further away.
Corin pounced without a second thought and Chelsea and I reacted immediately and helped her to hold the intruder down. She was causing quite the havoc, screaming and growling.
Damnit! I cursed mentally.
Desperation made her stronger than she actually looked, and we had some trouble to hold her down. She even managed to scrape Corin with her teeth, before she could fixate the witch's head.
Luckily I felt Alec approaching us quickly.
Within another moment he was there with us and the fight left the redhead.
It was always impressive to witness his gift. The opponent simply sagged, no sign of life, of resistance, eyes open staring unseeingly.
Lights in the houses, that surrounded the scene flicked to life. I grabbed our victim, slung her over my shoulder and we were gone before a human noticed.
"Thank you, Alec. Just in time, I appreciate your help. She was stronger than expected," I told the boy.
He simply nodded, still concentrating on the woman.
We entered the secret underground passageways through a faux manhole in the ground of another small, rarely frequented alleyway.
Together we raced toward the castle, all of us curious to see what would happen. Corin called ahead and informed Master Aro and then Felix.
Shortly after we had entered the tunnels we could hear the others heading in the same direction.
Corin and Chelsea opened the double doors to allow Alec and me easy access.
The Masters Aro and Caius and Lady Athenodora were present, as planned.
They rose and Master Aro stepped forward.
"Put her down, Demetri and come here, let me see how it went," there was no smile, none of his usual creepy cheer. The others were deadly silent, too. Master Caius watched every movement with sharp blackened eyes, and when he could finally see the female, after I let her fall to the ground, his face contorted into a hateful sneer. I had only ever seen look him so angered, when they had discussed a matter concerning the children of the moon a good century ago. In their anger the ancients seemed even less like us.
The other guards had arrived now, too, and everyone stood in their usual positions, except for the twins, because Jane had gone straight to her brothers side, who had his gaze still fixed on the motionless woman.
I stepped towards my Master and offered my hand towards him to see, while I explained the happenings to all others present aloud.
"I see. Thank you Demetri. All of you. It is certainly unfortunate that she caused such upheaval, we'll simply have to keep an eye on this matter and see whether there was an undetected witness. If you would take care of this matter, Demetri?" our raven- haired Master concluded.
"Certainly, Master Aro," I promised him.
"Very well. Corin, please go and inform my wife and my brother, that we await them."
The female guard vanished.
While we waited for the both of them to arrive here, Aro watched the same scene I had explained through the memories of Chelsea and Alec.
The door flew open with surprising force- it made some of us wince- and Master Marcus stormed inside, his eyes black with barely controlled anger. He was closely followed by Lady Sulpicia and then with some distance by Corin, who would have been breathless had she still been human.
She closed the door behind them and took her spot. Alec and Jane would guard the doors.
"Let's begin!" Caius boomed as soon as the family occupied their designated places on the dais.
Alec and Jane flew to guard the doors and the redhead awakened, finally free of Alec's gift.
"What! How did I get here? How dare you!" she growled angrily, looking around the room, desperate to find an escape- route, but there was none.
"Silence!" Aro roared. That shut her up quickly. She even shivered.
"We were informed off the things that happened in the street. You have information on a human that has knowledge of our kind, you say? Let me see," he held out his hand to the redhead.
"What do you mean by let me see? I will tell you..." she tried to appease him.
"No," he interrupted her. " You see, I am gifted, young one: by simply touching you I will see all you ever saw, felt or thought. I will hold all your knowledge. You see, it is a rather useful gift, if I may say so, because no one can lie to me," he explained to her, his voice deadly calm.
"Now. Let. Me. See," he growled threateningly.
The fool simply shook her head 'no' and took a step back.
That action broke what ever control Master Marcus had had on his emotion and he pounced forward. I thought he would destroy her without a trial in the heat of the moment- I wouldn't blame him- but he instantly had her by her neck from behind, holding her a foot above the ground, her arms restrained with his other hand behind her back.
"Believe me, you will show my brother all you know," he roared into her ear.
As soon as she took a breath, probably to answer him, she began to thrash violently screaming in rage, "You smell like her! Her scent is all over you! You..."
His hand constricted around her throat, cutting off her ability to talk.
"Listen now, you wench, Isabella, is my mate, I will protect her with all I have, all I am, and don't for one second delude yourself into thinking you might ever harm her again. You won't even set eyes on her ever again."
He squeezed her neck a little more until cracks formed, and thrust her towards Aro, who, apparently with much distaste, touched his right index finger against her forehead.
All of us were quiet, no one even breathed, all eyes fixed on him, intently waiting for him to finish. He never showed any sign of emotion when he read people in court. He usually stood unmoving. Unexpectedly he snarled something in his native tongue- my guess: any curse word he knew- and poked his finger to her head with more force, so that another crack formed his eyes blazed with anger and in reaction the other ancients growled.
After he had regained his composure and had finished his 'line of questioning', he took a step back from her, he scowled.
"So it is true, Victoria. You have created an army of newborns in Seattle. Such a shame you did not take Maria's warning seriously, when she told you of us and to keep a low profile. As it is, you broke that law," Master Aro summarized.
"Before today I had only feared, that the loss of your mate drove you to insanity, but now I have proof. You created the army for the lone purpose of revenge, not caring for our secret as long as it would help you to succeed. You would not have cared had the army annihilated the complete northern part of the united states, exposing us by doing so," he paused then for a short while, observing her fruitless struggles, before he continued.
"When one looks at it objectively, you did expose us, as you didn't manage to murder Isabella. She survived, you left a witness," he told her calmly, now pacing slowly in front of her, like the predator he was, his muscles rippled with restraint, his hands- clasped on his back- twitched, a malicious smile curled his lips up. "So, you broke two of our laws, you created an army of newborns, that you obviously couldn't handle, " he tsk'ed at her like a scolding teacher would, then went on " and, even worse, you exposed our existence. Believe me, we were about to dispatch a team to clean the area.
"Proof of your transgressions are the numerous news articles, and your own thoughts.
Do you deny your actions?" ha asked.
His reasoning was just, at least the creating the army part, the rest was a bit shaky, but we had ended others for less in the past.
Marcus let up on the pressure just so that she could speak.
"She killed my mate! I won't let her live!" the last word was only choked out as Marcus had cut her off again and shook her like a rag-doll. Aro shook his head in the negative.
"No, no she most certainly is not to blame for your mate's death. It was no ones fault but his own, and perhaps yours. He decided to go up against a coven of seven, that declared her as theirs, he set himself up to fail. He played a game and he lost, and you were not even there, because in your deluded self-concept it never even crossed your mind that he might fail. You could have warned him; he could still be with you...
"The problem was that you drew just as much sick pleasure from the cruel games you played, as he did. You were high on excitement, in no way in the mind frame needed to play a deadly game. Your own hubris is at fault, no one and nothing else," our Master lectured.
He shook his head again and sighed deeply.
"But your talent, such a waste. Alas it can not be helped," he shrugged.
"I say we should pass judgement now."
We, the 'witnesses', nodded.
"Caius?" He turned to face his brother who had hardly said a word, his eyes still black as coal.
"Guilty, on both accounts," he growled in answer.
Aro nodded.
"Sulpicia? Athenodora?" He inquired again.
They answered as one,"Guilty, on both accounts." When they had spoken the last word, their eyes were black as well. In response to his mate's ire Aro's eyes darkened rapidly, too.
"Marcus, brother?"
"Guilty. And I petition to be allowed to conduct the execution personally," he snarled.
"Granted," Aro and the wives agreed.
"On one condition," Caius bargained, and Marcus' head shot towards him.
"I want to partake," he said and smiled.
End note:
I hope you enjoyed this one. Leave me few words, tell me what you think!