We arrived back at Aro's quarters not long after, and I went inside, Renata waiting at her self-subscribed post near the door outside the room. Aro sat at his desk, still working, and he had a large book in front of him. He said nothing to me as I closed the door behind me and crossed the room to see what he was doing. The book appeared to be an atlas, and he had it open to a map of Southeast Europe.
I went to stand behind him, but he was so focused on what he was doing, he still made no acknowledgment of my re-entering the room. I decided to stand still and watch as he made a few notes in Greek on a small notebook, separate from the large journal book he kept. He eventually let out a sigh and finally turned to me. For a vampire, he appeared tired, and it was a very strange thing to see.
"Lia, are you feeling better now after getting some fresh air?" Even his voice sounded tired.
I nodded. "Yeah, a bit. Are you okay?"
Aro hummed and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were dark again, a color I hated to see them as. Even though I knew he would not harm me, I knew what the darkened color meant, and it was still frightening. "Yes, my dear, I am well. There are only some times in which being around for so long leaves one feeling mentally drained. Though physically we experience no exhaustion, our brains still function very much like they did when we were human outside of the operation of our bodily organs. Even my mind needs to rest from time to time."
He smiled at me, but I said nothing in reply. I watched him as he stood and held out his hand for me to take. Still trying to be the perfect lover he wanted so I could put this plan into action, I took my hand and placed it softly in his. As he led me over to the sofa in the room, he frowned. He was doing way too much of that lately. "Tell me, did you go and meet with Sulpicia while you were up there? I know she would have been delighted to see you."
"I wasn't going to, but yeah, I ended up there," I replied with a shrug.
The frown he held finally turned back to a grin, and truthfully, it put me more at ease. I never knew what he thought when he appeared so desolate suddenly. His mood swings always threw me off, but I'd rather him be in a state of glee than one that left me worried he was angry or upset with me. My mind always defaulted back to the fact that he must know of my plans, but how could he? I hadn't told anyone or written them down anywhere. They were all in my head, and that's where they would stay until I had the chance to actually act on them.
"How did you both fare, Lia? I hope it was not too peculiar meeting the one you so often remind me that is my wife."
I bit my lip and looked down at my hands. He had released mine when we reached the sofa and sat, and I had them knotted together in my lap. "She ran away from you."
"Hm?" Aro voiced, confusion evident in his tone.
Breathing deep, I continued, "When you proposed, she ran away from you."
"Ah, yes, but as you can see, even she came back and decided to accept my proposal and offer. We have been content with each other ever since."
"And you still go up to see her, even though I'm here now." It was a statement, not a question, and I wasn't saying it out of jealousy. How could I be jealous when the one thing I desperately wanted was to do exactly what Sulpicia had done thousands of years ago? Except with me, I wouldn't come back willingly. However, making Aro think I was jealous might work in my favor.
"She is my wife, Lia, and a friend, as I have told you."
"And I'm your mate."
Aro glanced at me before reaching over and pulling me towards him so I was now leaning onto his chest, his arms wrapped around my waist. "Yes, you are."
I felt him breathe in the scent of my hair as he held me to him. I tried to keep my heart steady, but the truth was, there was something about this that my body really liked, and I hated it for that. Stupid mating bonds or whatever they were that Marcus had talked about could be damned, but gods, this felt so right and nice.
Maybe once I knew I had exhausted all of my options, I would stop fighting it then, just as Aro kept wishing for and telling me to do. Until then, I would remain myself, free from this fated connection that we had that told me over and over again that I was going to fail. Maybe I would, but I had to try. I had to know that I did that much.
"I love your scent, Liliana. It is so difficult not to partake, yet I cannot help but breathe it in," Aro said, his face still lowered to the top of my head.
I shuddered. "That's not creepy at all."
Aro chuckled before releasing me. "Your feigned jealousy of Sulpicia is still quite enticing."
"Who says I'm faking it?"
"If that is the case, perhaps I will share your bed tonight."
The smile on Aro's face was sickeningly sweet, and I knew he heard my heart completely skip a beat. "Just because I might be jealous doesn't mean I want to share a bed with you. Besides, you're still married."
His light laugh had me looking back at him again in confusion. "Polyamorous relationships were quite common in my day, and from what I understand with your generation, one no longer requires marriage to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh." Aro trailed a finger up my bare arm as he spoke, and the sensation that shot through me made me quietly gasp. "Regrettably, I will have to wait for such things until you have undergone the change. It is too dangerous, for many reasons, to consume every inch of you while you remain human."
I pushed away from him and stood before switching to sit in the armchair across the room where Demetri often sat when he was here 'babysitting' me. His voice and his touch threatened to absorb me. I changed the subject. "Did you decide about the coven in Bulgaria yet?"
He hummed. "I have," Aro replied as he straightened himself out on the sofa as if nothing had just occurred between us. "Demetri and Felix will leave early in the morning. The offenders will be brought here to be tried."
"They're going to take on a whole coven by themselves?"
"There are only two vampires they will be going after. They have no special abilities and will be easy for Demetri and Felix to bring in. The rest of the coven has received a pardon as they were the ones who informed us originally of the activities ongoing."
"What happens when they arrive back here?"
"As I said, they will be tried by my brothers and me, though the likely outcome is death." He saw me frown and went on. "I know you do not approve of these methods, Lia, but the punishment for breaking our laws is severe. Vampires are not like humans. We are enhanced and keenly powerful. The laws must be stringent and enforced to maintain order."
I understood what he was saying and what he had said earlier, and it did make sense to me. I said nothing in response, and the room went silent again until my stomach decided to make itself heard. I peered down at it and cursed in my head.
Aro, on the other hand, laughed. "Come, I'll take you to the kitchen so you can make something to eat. It's late in the morning already, no wonder your body is telling you it's time to feed."
I stood along with him, wincing at his terminology, and we made our way out of his quarters to the stairs where we ascended before finding ourselves moments later in the small kitchen. I grabbed a cornetto, freshly bought that morning from a local bakery, or so it appeared, and poured a small glass of milk. I sat down across from Aro at the table and picked at the pastry like I managed to do with my breakfast every morning, while he merely stared. I used to comment on it in the beginning, but now I was so used to it that I gave up. It wasn't really me he was staring at. He was mesmerized by the food and how I could eat something so repulsive, while also knowing at the same time that it was only repulsive to his kind due to our distinct differences in diets and biology.
I suddenly remembered about the vampire Aro had mentioned much earlier that morning that had been roaming around Germany doing who knows what. I wondered if he was also to meet the same fate that would most likely befall the two from Bulgaria. I did not feel pressed to ask Aro any more questions on those events, as I honestly didn't want to know any more than I already did. I was curious but not enough to bring it up again.
Finishing my pastry and the glass of milk, I washed the dishes quickly in the sink while Aro seemed to be lost in thought somewhere else. It actually got to the point where when I had stepped back over to him, I had to snap my fingers in front of his face to capture his attention.
He glanced up at me and smiled. "My apologies, my dear. As I said before, I have much on my mind."
"You were starting to go catatonic there," I said quietly. "Is that normal?"
"I was only thinking, Lia." He rose from the chair he was sitting in and lifted his hand to caress my cheek. "I need to speak with the guard, but I will escort you back to our quarters before I go."
I paused for a second realizing that he had said 'our quarters.' In a way, he was correct in that reference. I was sleeping in there at night in a bedroom that had been adopted as mine, prepared and made ready for a human female to come to stay one day. However, it was the way he said it that sounded slightly possessive of our connection to each other, and it turned me off. His fingers slipped from my cheek, down my arm, until he sheltered my hand in his own. I never understood why he was so intent on always holding my hand. I understood that it was something people who cared for each other did when in public and they couldn't be making out or whatever, but this was all the time as of late.
Truthfully, it was getting a little annoying. First of all, his hands were like ice. Secondly, the way he stroked my skin wanted to make me ill. Third, it upset me to no end that he thought he could just hold my hand when he wanted. I know he had allowed me to refuse in the past, but now if I said so, he would probably take it completely the wrong way, freak out, make it impossible to do anything while Demetri was away, and I wasn't having that. However, his lust for control irked me, and I could feel that he thought he had the right to me at any time, whether I ultimately refused or not. Still, for the time being, I would play nice and put up with it.
We were heading back down the stairs when Aro suddenly stopped, and I nearly stepped into him. "What?"
He turned so quickly, and the next thing I knew, one foot was on one step and my other foot on another, my back was against the wall, and Aro was towering over me, holding me upright so I didn't suddenly fall. The way he looked at me with his eyes, which at this point, were deep black, quite literally had me reeling back in fear, but there was nowhere to go in the cage he had me in at that moment. My heart raced, breathing erratic, and I wasn't sure if he was about to devour me, reprimand me for something I didn't realize I had done, or do something even more sinister.
He said nothing, only stood there staring at me so harshly that I had to look away. I felt him as he leaned his head into my neck and hummed against my skin, the vibrations causing me to want to scratch them away. That was when he whispered slowly and all too sensually in my ear, like some sort of carnal animal that had me waiting on edge, "You belong to me."
Aro backed away, finally releasing me. All I managed to say in a shaky, barely audible voice was, "Okay." I was too afraid to say anything else at that moment or to disagree with him like he must have known I wanted to do.
That was when he pulled me into his arms and just held me there, closely, like he was trying to comfort me or something without even recognizing that he was the one who put me in this state to begin with. However, his next words shocked me, and they were soft and loving, and I felt his desire coming from his mouth. "But, I also belong to you."
There was a soft kiss on my head before he let me go and began to start back down the stairs. I followed carefully behind, knowing that something dark in me was being aroused, and I hated that he could make me feel that way. I blamed it on the menstrual cycle and hormones at this time of the month, though as of that morning when I used the bathroom, I had miraculously stopped bleeding, probably from the stress I was feeling, and it was almost as if he knew what he was doing to me and was doing it on purpose. Not only that, he was enjoying it.
I was still trying to calm myself down when we arrived back at Aro's room. I wanted to say something to him, to ask him what that had all been about, but the words weren't coming. I hadn't felt that amount of fear since the first time, scratch that, the second time I saw him, the day in the grand library when he told me I would not be leaving here. Yet, it wasn't only fear that I felt. There had been a sick sort of attraction boiling up in me when he had cornered me the way he did. What was wrong with me? Seriously. These were the type of men fathers told their daughters to stay away from. Well, mine technically had, but he didn't realize at the time how real his warnings would be later on.
"I will return shortly, my dear," Aro said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Please do be good and wait for me here until I return."
I nodded, and he left, closing the door behind him. I went to the other room and pulled out my laptop that I had left sitting on the bed. After opening it, I scrolled to find my word processing program and opened it up. I gazed at the screen for some time thinking about anything to write out that was going through my head, but then ultimately decided against it because who knows if Aro might somehow find out about it or demand to look through my stuff again.
I closed it almost as quickly as I had opened it and thought seriously about going back up to the tower for a while or exploring the deeper tunnels of the building, the ones that led to the sewers. I know Aro had said to remain where I was until he returned, but let's face it. I'm not a very good listener, and he did just scare me half to death. It hit me then that there was a good chance, with his eyes as dark as they had been, that he was going to meet a group of tourists that would be dead within seconds after setting eyes in that round room.
Fine, I wouldn't go to the tower, but the sewer passages would be safe enough. The last time I had been down there, Demetri met me with a reprehensive look, but I didn't care. Where was I going to go? Was he so worried about me screaming my way out? I rolled my eyes. I wasn't stupid — no need to get anyone else involved in this so they ended up dead as well.
That was when I remembered my plan with Emilio, but I didn't really have a choice. I wouldn't tell him any details, just that I needed to get out. I couldn't access the rest of the money my grandfather had left, and I couldn't get a plane ticket without an internet connection. I would need to borrow from him, and I knew he would lend it to me if he realized it was an emergency. Emilio always had a good heart. He would be the only exception, and by the time Demetri returned to find out I had left while he was gone and began tracking me down, Emilio would be in the distance and safe, and I would hopefully be on a plane to Buenos Aires.
I left the room and followed the corridor down to the secret passage, as I had begun to call it, at the end of the hall. I pushed open the hidden door in the wall and stepped into the stairwell, which led me down to a lower level of the building. When I reached the bottom, I followed the passage to an old door at the end. I had since found, when I asked Aro about it, that these were passages the guards would sometimes use to make their way back into the 'lair' without being spotted. Aro hated that term, but it worked for me.
I opened the door, stepping out into the musty darkness. I had forgotten just how dark it actually was down here and wished that I had brought something to light my way like I had last time. I knew that if I stuck to the wall long enough, it would lead me back to the manhole I had found before. It was a dead-end, so I couldn't get lost. On the other hand, I might step on a rat. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them scurrying around just fine.
I pressed forward, though I did think about turning back a few times, and I finally reached the manhole again, where light was thankfully streaming down from it. I wondered where I was in relation to the city. Was I still in Volterra, or did this passage perhaps lead under the walls? It was long enough to do so, or so I thought. I couldn't hear any traffic, vehicle or the foot kind, so wherever it was in relation to the main piazza, it must be relatively untraveled.
Slightly disgusting as it was, knowing that I was in a sewer even if the sewage didn't come to this part, it was more for rain drainage than anything, I sat down on the ground, crossing my legs and putting my head into my hands with a sigh. Demetri and Felix were leaving in the morning. That is what Aro said. While they were gone, a coven from Peru was arriving, and they might be my ticket out of here. Most likely, Aro would accept their audience with the rest of his guard in the room. That would leave me alone to my own devices and an excellent escape route.
I sat there for some time before I heard someone walking up from the darkness beyond the light the manhole provided. I thought for sure that it was Demetri who had come to get me, but I was wrong. "Liliana, I believe I told you not to leave the room."
Aro held out his hand to help me up, but this time, I did not take it and stood on my own, brushing off the jeans I was wearing. "I know."
"Yet, you deliberately disobeyed me." He lowered his arm back to his side and finally stepped into the light of manhole, which allowed me to see his expression better. He was angry, but I knew he would be. "There are reasons why I ask you to do the things I ask you to do."
His eyes were bright again, so I knew I had been correct on my assumption about a feeding. With Demetri and Felix leaving tomorrow, it only made sense that they would need blood to be at full strength. "I went in the opposite direction. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."
"When you disobey me and challenge me, Lia, it is."
"Sorry."
"You say that, but I do not believe you mean it." I swallowed, trying to think of how to reply, but instead, Aro had grabbed my arm above my elbow and pulled me toward him. "Come with me."
As we were walking back, my arm still grasped in his hand, Aro revealed what he had been holding in his other hand, which happened to be a decent size flashlight. He turned it on and handed it to me, making it much easier to see where I was going even if Aro was practically dragging me with him. When we reached the door that led out of the sewers and into the main passage underneath the building, we walked a while until he stopped us.
Aro turned towards the wall and opened another hidden door that I had yet to find, which led to another, shorter stairwell. I was truly amazed by how many underground corridors there were in this building, and with this one added, I now counted three floors altogether under the main city hall. At the bottom of the stairs were rows of iron doors from what I could see with the light. Aro stepped up to one and opened it easily before pulling me inside along with him.
I looked around at this new room we were in. The walls were concrete, the floor was concrete, there was a wooden bench to sit on across the room, but other than that, it was bare. I glanced back at Aro, trying to figure out what sort of game he was playing, but he only wore a frown.
"I did not wish to resort to this, but you will stay here for the night."
My eyes widened, shocked at what I was hearing and hoping that I had heard him wrong. "Wait. What?"
"You disobeyed me, Lia, and there are consequences for that. This is something that you must learn and that you need to understand. You are my mate, but I am also the leader of the Volturi and of my kind. I will not stand for even my mate disregarding what she is told to do. I have been more than lenient with you, but this stops now."
"Aro, you can't just leave me down here."
I heard him sigh, and I had to choke back the panic that was starting to form in my throat. "I can, and I am. I will come for you in the morning, and hopefully, by then, you will have changed your demeanor."
I tried to follow him out the door before he left, but he was too swift, the heavy iron door closing in front of me. Hearing the key in the lock turned over my panic, and all I could do was scream his name and hope that he would come back.
He didn't.
A/N: This is the longest chapter yet in this story, but closer to the typical length of the chapters in my original novels. I thought I would give you all a little something extra. Thanks again for sticking with me. Be sure to leave a review! I always try to respond, and they do help to fill my day with a little joy.
