With Fernando successfully retrieved and the sky beginning to light up as dawn fast approached, we didn't waste any time in getting back onto the Volturi jet and enduring the 2 hour journey to Italy. At least it had a comfortable leather sofa and massive flat screen TV mounted on one of the walls.
Once we were settled back in the cabin of the plane, Demetri soon lifted the lid of the cat carrier, allowing Fernando to explore the room for himself. I wasn't entirely sure if that was safe, so I kept an eye on him out of the corner of my eye just in case he got into any trouble.
I felt a nudge on my shoulder and turned my head to find Caius scrutinizing my expression. "You seem distracted, carissima."
"I'm fine," I sighed, "I'm just worried Fernando will accidentally wander somewhere he's not supposed to be, like the inner workings of the plane or something."
"Well, he is your pet so I would not be surprised," he teased.
"Okay, whoa." I held my index finger up at him. "I may be accident prone, but unlike that furry blob of fat, I ain't stupid, 'kay?"
Caius raised an eyebrow. "You 'ain't stupid'?"
I nodded affirmatively and crawled into his lap to curl up comfortably with my head on his shoulder. "I doubt you'd care if Fernando got lost. Didn't he attack you that one time?" I asked him.
A faint growl came from within his chest. "Do not remind me if you would rather that cat remain in one piece."
"Alright, geez, touchy much," I giggled. "So, when are we 'collecting allies'?"
He traced patterns up and down my arm with his fingertips. "Actually, we leave for Forks in two days, according to Aro. The remaining guard who do not accompany us will be sent to gather allies from other covens and nomads, but we must visit the Cullen residence for 7 days since you so wisely suggested the shape-shifters and they can be difficult to reason with," he snarked.
"Hey, if we do get them on our side, you'll be thanking me," I defended. "I assume we're taking Amethyst with us, no?"
"Marcus claims it is perfectly safe to do so, yes," he responded. "She will be heavily protected by us at all times, since I do not trust the Cullens' control as of yet."
"Of course you don't," I sighed, before deciding to change the subject before he went on another animal blood rant. "Can we watch a movie?"
Felix suddenly appeared and sat down a few seats away from us so that he could still see the screen while giving us space. "I call dibs on the remote!" he called as he waved the black plastic remote in the air.
"I guess that's a yes then," I muttered under my breath. "Felix, who put you in charge of the remote in anyway? Technically you don't own this plane, I do."
He shrugged as he began flicking through movies already saved on the TV. "Finders keepers, losers weepers. Found one!"
Without even giving me a chance to see what the film actually was, he pressed play and the beginning credits started rolling over the screen. Several names popped up, yet still the title of the movie hadn't.
"Caius, what is this movie?" I whispered.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "The Human Centipede 3."
I gasped in horror and whipped my head around to Felix. "Turn it off, I'm not fucking kidding Felix, turn this goddamn movie off right now before I rip your arm out of its socket!"
My voice seemed to be so venomous that not only did Demetri turn his head from the other end of the plane where he was leisurely reading his newspaper with Fernando on his lap, but Felix genuinely looked lost for words as his mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"Felix, you heard your queen, turn this film off this instant. Eliana, you can calm down now, carissima," Caius murmured, purring against the top of my head.
"No, no, I will not calm down. When I was 14, one of my friends forced me to watch this with her, and I had reoccurring nightmares about it for months afterwards. I'd wake up almost screaming most nights, we are not watching this," I hissed.
"What is it about?" he asked.
To answer his question, Felix handed him his phone with the Wikipedia page for that movie open. Caius briefly scrolled through it, and then raised his eyebrows, but what worried me was the fact that he was nodding his head . . . in approval?
"Humans do get creative with their punishments," he mused. "Kudos to the writers, I would not have ever created a concept this horrendous and humiliating to humans."
I stared at him agape. "Caius! This is the human centipede we're talking about here, and you think that's cool? It's terrifying!"
He smirked at me. "To you, maybe. Trust me when I say that some of the punishments we have carried out are much worse than depicted in this film."
"Geez, you scare me sometimes," I murmured under my breath as Clueless began playing on the TV instead.
"That means I am doing my job correctly, doesn't it?" he chuckled, cuddling me tightly. "I have found that very often it is better to be feared than loved."
"Isn't it better to be both?" I questioned, glancing up at him from beneath my eyelashes.
He looked down at me and stroked my hair out of my face. "In fact, the full quotation by Niccolo Machiavelli is, 'it is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both'," he told me. "Our coven's purpose is not to be liked, but to be followed, and at times feared."
"I can't even imagine genuinely fearing you anymore," I said as I absently played with the lining of his cloak. "I think I love you too much for that."
"Well maybe I have been too soft with you," he murmured huskily, capturing my lips with his.
His mouth moved harshly against mine as his arms twisted around me, pinning my body against his. I could feel movement, but only realised it when my back hit the sofa and Caius was hovering over me. It felt a little uncomfortable making out with both Felix and Demetri in the room, but it was kinda their job to stay back and not get involved in our lives. Besides, they didn't seem that bothered by us.
Just as Caius' tongue began to push into my mouth, his weight shifted completely off my body, leaving me spread across the sofa with my slightly tangled brunette hair splayed over the white leather. I sat up slowly and saw that in his grip was in fact Fernando. The cat hissed at him, and imagine my surprise when he hissed in return.
"Where did he come from? Wasn't he over there?" I asked, pointing to Demetri who was suppressing a laugh at the scene along with Felix.
Caius was holding the cat under his arms and it looked rather uncomfortable. "This little vermin truly decided to climb onto my back," he snarled.
"Oh, Fernando," I cooed. Caius seemed startled that I wasn't cooing over him as I lifted Fernando out of his grip and cuddled the cat before placing him back down on the floor.
"'Oh, Fernando'? What happened to 'oh, Caius'?" he yelled.
Still crouched on the floor, I turned to him and couldn't help but grin at his defeated expression. "You're jealous of my cat because I give him more attention than you?" I asked, my question turning into a joke half way through.
"Of course not," he snapped as he narrowed his eyes at me and then Fernando.
"What was that then? If you ask me, I'd say that was jealousy, clear as day," I teased.
This time, he didn't say anything in response but instead glared harshly at the carpeted floor. With a laugh, I climbed onto his lap so that I was facing him with my legs either side of his thighs. I cupped his cheek with my hand and tucked a strand of his snowy white hair back into his silver hair clip at the back of his head.
"You're such a funny little thing, Caius," I giggled, nuzzling into his jaw. "You really got jealous by my pet cat?"
"I do not get jealous," he argued like a stubborn child.
"Of course not," I purred, "the big scary Caius Volturi doesn't get jealous by furry housecats." I paused for a moment. "You do realise I was kidding when I said I love Fernando more than you, right?"
"Obviously, I was well aware of that," he insisted. "It simply does not make me feel any less uncomfortable," he murmured out of earshot.
"Would it make you feel any more comfortable if I told you that I love you more than any other being—with two obvious exceptions?" I asked.
He pressed his nose into my hair and inhaled deeply with a satisfied hum. When I first met Caius, I would've never guessed that he would end up being the one who was most needy for constant cuddles, attention, and physical contact for reassurance. Just like how I'd never guessed that Marcus was hilariously sarcastic and so much fun to joke around with, or that Aro was one of the most sympathetic and understanding people you could ever wish to meet, especially with those he cares deeply about. It just goes to show how completely different a person can be when you get to know who they genuinely are deep down.
The short car journey from Pisa airport to Volterra probably would've been much more tolerable if Fernando wasn't screaming his little kitty head off at the back of the SUV beside Felix. I could even see Caius' fists clenching as if doing everything in his power to stop himself from hurling the cat carrier out of the window and into the countryside.
He sighed. "Eliana, soothe your cat."
I scoffed. "He may be my cat, but I'm not some kind of cat whisperer, blondie. Don't get me wrong, his squeaks are annoying me just as much as they're annoying you, but there's really nothing I can do about that."
"Felix, silence the cat," he commanded.
"NO!" I yelled just as I heard the carrier opening. "Felix, don't you dare lay a finger on my fur baby," I warned.
"Hey, there's no need to get so worked up, Master," he held his hands up in mock surrender, "I was just going to move him onto my lap."
My eyes widened in realisation. "Oh. Okay."
"There's no point in moving him now," Demetri said over his shoulder. "We're almost here in anyway."
I wasn't entirely sure how I hadn't noticed that the rolling fields of Tuscany had been replaced with the bleak grey concrete of the underground tunnel system that provided the perfect hidden entrance to the castle. Had I really been that distracted?
The car finally pulled up in the garage and Demetri parked messily across a few spaces. I was so glad I hadn't buckled my seatbelt, as that allowed me to quickly dash out of the car and run straight to Aro and Marcus.
I reached Aro first and launched myself into his arms, my legs wrapping themselves around his torso. My lips collided with his and I moaned softly at the feeling of his physical contact. It still scared me sometimes how desperately I missed them when they weren't instantly surrounding me.
Untangling my legs from around him, I hopped back down again and spun on my heel to be met with Marcus. He gathered me into his arms and pulled me into a warm kiss, smiling against my lips. My hands slid up his chest to the back of his neck, holding his head down slightly so that I could reach him easier.
Once our mouths eventually broke contact, I leaned into him with my head on his chest while Aro's arms surrounded me from behind as he left feather-soft kisses across my neck and shoulder.
"I missed you so much," I murmured, instinctively pulling Marcus closer to me while leaning back further into Aro so that I was basically flattened into a Volturi sandwich. "Where did Amethyst go?"
"She is due to wake up in approximately 36 minutes," Marcus informed me, holding up the parent unit of the baby monitor proudly. "I assume you have returned with Caius' worst enemy?"
I snorted at his comment and watched as Felix stepped out of the car with a frightened-looking Fernando who was still in the pet carrier. He handed him over to Caius, who proceeded to glare at the cat.
"They had their differences," I said simply with a shrug.
Aro brushed his hand against mine and his eyes glazed over. Once he was back into reality, he erupted with laughter, aimed tauntingly at Caius.
"Oh, brother, it seems Eliana has truly replaced you after all," he wheezed along with me and Marcus, ignoring Caius' sharp glares.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Goddamn it, why do I end up writing so many chapters where they're travelling all the mf time? At least I managed to squeeze some Caius fluff into this one, so enjoy that haha.
Guess what's planned for next chapter? That's right, more travelling. This time, we have yet another trip to Forks planned, and things should get pretty interesting. Any guesses as to how the Cullens will react to Amethyst? Or how the packs will react?
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love reading your comments, stay safe, and ily lots!