Hi everybody. I just want to thank you all for your very kind reviews. They really mean a lot to me, and they definitely inspire me to keep writing. This chapter will introduce you a little bit more to Caius and some of the other guard. Bella's training has begun.

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Chapter 35- Little Fava

Marcus was right. Caius was a sadistic cunt

From the moment Bella walked into his office, he started berating her, telling her she was worthless and weak, complaining how she manipulated Aro into letting Edward go free.

Of course, Bella knew what she was in for. Marcus had spent the previous evening telling her gory stories of Caius when he was still human. How in battle, Caius would come back, bruised and bleeding, half dead, his sword so hacked up that the blade looked like it was serrated with chips and pieces missing. Yet Caius insisted on going back out there to kill some more.

"He never gives up," Marcus said. "He's tenacious as a rabid Pitbull. His troops didn't call him The Butcher for nothing."

"They called him The Butcher?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Oh yes, and a slew of other not-so-nice names. The Hittites absolutely despised him and considered him a warmonger."

"And you decided to join up with him because…why?"

Marcus chuckled. "My dear, it's always better to have someone like Caius working for you instead of against you. Not to mention, he's loyal, and thinks traitors are the scum of the Earth."

"Great," Bella muttered, inwardly cringing.

When she walked into Caius' office, she noted a stark difference between Aro's office and his. While Aro had books and paintings, Caius had ancient weapons adorning his walls, along with numerous maps. He also made her kneel for nearly two hours before speaking to her. He then preceded to chew her ass for another hour. He was like the drill sergeant from hell.

"I am not like Aro," Caius told her. "I have no intention of mollycoddling you and indulging your every whim. You are here to learn discipline and the art of combat. Punishments will be harsh. Since you are impervious to Jane's gift, we will have to use the punishment method that was used before we acquired her. You will be bent over the whipping bench and flogged." To emphasize this, he opened his cabinet and brought out what looked like a thin metal rod. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master," Bella said, standing rigidly before him. There was no hiding it. Caius scared the crap out of her, but she found that he taught her a lot.

Her lessons took place in a spacious courtyard with a white marble floor, adorned with a black border and a black marble V embedded in the center, where Demetri and Felix pretty much beat the shit out of her.

Bella had never been much of a fighter. In fact, she had never been in a fight in her life, so she was way out of her league. Fortunately, she did have some advantages. Because she was a newborn, she was stronger and faster. However, Felix and Demetri knew how to get around that and they knocked her on her ass every chance they got.

Caius watched the proceedings from his chair in the shade under the balustrade, barking out orders, sometimes stepping in. He had one order that was particularly hard to follow and that was, 'Halt.' Halt meant everyone was supposed to stop what they were doing and stand at attention, and if they didn't, they would be punished.

Bella thought it was crazy. Here she would be in an intense fight, and Caius would yell out that command. Suddenly everything would come to a standstill and she would have to drag her cracked and broken body up from the floor.

One game, Caius liked to play was the hunt. Bella had ten minutes to run and hide, and then the guard would hunt her down and bring her back. To her relief, she actually had an advantage on this because Demetri couldn't track her, so she managed to evade capture for almost two days. Caius was mildly impressed.

The worst though was Heidi. That bitch fought dirty, taking chunks out of her, and one time she plucked out Bella's left eye.

Bella was furious, screaming, and flung herself on her, slamming the woman into a fountain, knocking over an Aphrodite statue. This infuriated Caius and he sent both of them to the hall for one whole day, bent over in a partial murga position. Caius was even nice enough to come by and put origami sculptures on their backs to make sure they didn't move.

"Thanks a lot," Heidi hissed. "Next time try not to throw me into a statue."

"You ripped out my eyeball. What did you expect me to do?" Bella grumbled back.

Funny though, Heidi didn't mess with her much after that and was actually almost nice to her. It seemed being miserable together had created a strange bond between them.

..

During the evenings, Bella would go back to the shop, where Marcus would laugh at her.

"Enjoying your training, Isabella dear?"

"No."

To make matters worse, Aro was working on a contract which took him away to St. Petersburg and he took Renata, Santiago, and the twins with him. This left Bella without her best friend...not to mention a little heartbroken.

To her surprise though, Bella started to get better. Caius even said something to that effect, which totally shocked her. "It's good to see some improvement, Isabella," he said curtly one afternoon.

After one training session, Bella clipped Felix in the jaw and he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, running upstairs to Caius' wing and threw her into the pool. Bella never laughed so hard in her life, and since the water felt great, she ended up putting on a swimsuit and joined them for a swim as they made fun of her fighting skills.

"Don't you look fetching, Fava, in a bikini," Felix teased.

That was nickname they had given her, fava. It meant bean, meaning she was as stupid as a bean. They also called fava gialla for yellow bean since she now had gold-yellow eyes, which had suddenly appeared because she refused to drink human blood.

"So Fava, I have to ask you, what's this movement supposed to be?" Demetri taunted, flailing his fist about, falling backward in the pool. "You looked like you were fighting a pissed off cat?"

"Fuck off," Bella grumbled. "You guys have been kicking my ass for the last two weeks."

"She's getting better though. Don't you think, Demetri?" Felix said with big grin.

'Nah," Demetri said, and to prove it, he dunked her in the water.

Irritated, Bella dunked him right back.

This made him laugh, and he cocked his head. "I suppose she might be getting a little bit better." He emphasized 'a little bit' by holding up his thumb and his index finger. "You still suck though, Fava. We need to kick your ass some more."

Demetri always seemed amused by American slang, so Bella mouthed the words, Fuck You.

She couldn't help but laugh though, figuring if they were teasing her, it was probably a good sign.

..

Finally, the day came the when Bella had to fight Caius.

Now Bella had never really seen Caius fight, and he was so thin and wiry and stiff, she was beginning to wonder if he was as dangerous as everybody said he was.

It turns out, he was.

No longer adorned in his stiff Volturi robes, Caius wore a simple black shirt and pants. This made him look younger and stronger, his blond hair hanging wildly about his face. Standing in the courtyard, ready to fight, he had a piercing red gaze that seemed intent on doing damage, and that gaze was now focused on her.

"Come for me," he commanded, his arms outstretched.

Bella lunged forward and threw a kick to his head, which he dodged, berating her while she tried to get her footing.

"That was sloppy."

Bella went for him again and threw a punch to his chest, which he avoided, grabbing her around the throat.

"You're dead," he chided, mockingly wringing her neck. "You need to anticipate my moves. No one is just going to just stand there and let you hit them."

For an hour they went like this. Bella trying to kill him, while Caius moved out of the way. He was so fast and agile, she maybe hit him once or twice, which barely fazed him. She even knocked him on the ground, but he jumped right back up and grabbed her by the throat. "You're dead again."

It was so frustrating fighting him. He was like the wind, always just out of reach, always grabbing her by the throat.

Toward the end, Caius knocked her to the ground and dug his knee into her throat. He then preceded to break all of her fingers on her right hand, saying "This is for the time when you let me come up behind you." crack. "And this is for the time you lunged for me and missed." crack. "I'm not impressed, Isabella." crack.

God, he was an asshole.

Bella was able to crack all her fingers back into place, but it still stung like hell.

"Obviously, you need more practice. We'll try this again tomorrow," Caius ordered, before leaving her.

That's when Bella realized Felix and Demetri had been going easy on her. "I want you to fight me for real this time," she told them.

"Little Fava, wants to fight now, does she?" Demetri teased.

"Yes," she hissed.

This is when things got nasty. However, it's also when she really learned how to fight dirty. Demetri taught her things she had never even dreamed of. He was also kind enough to point out Caius's weaknesses, so she could battle him better.

All in all, her training turned out to be a long and painful process.

It was also lonely. The whole time, all she could think about was Aro. If only she could show him what she was learning. She wanted to talk to him so badly.

A month and a half later, she was no longer the same person.

..

It was toward the end of November when Aro finally returned from Russia, and he came with an entourage. There were three of them, Katya, Valeriya, and Illya. They were the Volga Coven.

Illya was the vampire Aro wanted for the Volturi. He had the gift of pyro telekinesis. He could start fires with his mind. He liked to show off, lighting all the candles in a room at once. He had only been fourteen when he was changed, so this made him kind of a smartass. He was likable enough though. Jane had a crush on him, which he definitely reciprocated, and Alec liked him too. The three of them were inseparable.

However, Illya had no intention of joining the Volturi without his older sisters, Katya and Valeriya.

Now Valeriya was a shy girl, very blonde, very beautiful, and very submissive. She hardly said a word. She was actually quite sweet.

Katya though was a completely different story.

Very slender and statuesque, Katya was stunningly beautiful. Her most striking feature was her long, silver-white hair that came down to her waist. She wore a dark red velvet gown to offset it, and a necklace made of garnets and obsidian. Somewhat imperious, she walked into the castle like she owned the place, her hawk-like gaze scanning the room.

Aro called everyone into the hall to make an announcement and took Katya's hand. "I'm very pleased to announce that the Volga Coven will be joining the Volturi. I have asked Katya here to be my wife, and she has graciously consented."

Elegantly, he leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on Katya's lips.

Bella thought she was going to be sick. Renata reached out for her hand, but Bella brushed it off, edging to the back of the room. She then slipped out the door and just started running, her hands clenched into fists.

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