It had been hours since her sister left, upset and distraught with her newfound knowledge, when the monster came knocking at her door once more.
Five of them came striding in, the one who had violated her the years before in the middle of the cluster. So this is Yevgeni, her sisters sire. He looked just as sickeningly disgusting as he had all those years before. He had an equally sickly, disgusting grin on his face as he approached her. He snapped his fingers one at one of his lackies, then motioned to her cage. "Bring the whore out."
A furious hiss echoed his words from the cage beside her own.
Two of the men whom accompanied him strode into her cage after they unlocked it, hands seizing her arms and pulling her out, throwing her to the floor before the man whom had come very close to shattering her mind with his vile acts. He gave her a gleaming smile. "Didn't expect you to come so willingly, if I'm being honest."
She pushed herself to her feet, eyes narrowing. "You had those I hold close to me, what did you expect me to do? Be a coward like yourself and run?" Her words cut deep, a backhand across her face making her head snap down with the brute force as her cheek stung, the tiny crack there healing as the venom that ran through her cells did its job.
An answering shout came from the cage that was still shut, a loud bang sounding. She looked to see Felix holding the brown haired boy who was looking frantically at them, although seething, vibrating with his anger and he snarled. "Touch her again you die," he hissed, venom spitting from between clenched teeth. His anger was something more often than not seen in Jane, not him, earning him his reputation as being the more docile out of the pair.
Right now, however, he was the opposite, livid and uncontrollable.
Yevgeni gave a short, barking laugh before he looked between Alec and herself. He chuckled to himself. "Child, you are in a cage as are your comrades." He pointed out with his ill-concealed amusement. His hand shot out, gripping her jaw tightly before he turned her head side to side. She ached to bite that hand off, but her time would come, and he would cower at her feet as she destroyed his very essence.
The monster laughed again. "I don't see any mark claiming her to be yours." The hand gripping her face tightened, as did the hands on her arms. "I can touch her if I want." He laughed again. "Oh, did we not have time to complete the bond before I captured you? Stupid boy. If you think I took delight in her all those years ago, you have no idea the pure joy it will bring me now to know, that even as you watch, I'm taking what won't be yours." He gave a demonic smile, the kind she imagined a shark gave before devouring their unsuspecting victims. "Did you truly think that if she came, I would give you four back to a cruel tyrant who stole my brothers from me?" He turned his eyes back to her, the smile widening such. "I remember how she felt years ago, and believe me when I say, this time I won't stop until she's begging me to kill her." He looked back at the boy. "But then again, Aro did turn you younger than some, Alec; perhaps you just can't complete such a bond." The angelic boy snarled, infuriated at such a jeer.
A hand, stained with unimaginable horrors and blood, reached for the buttons on her dirt crusted uniform, and she jerked back, her foot jerking upwards too, and it found itself in his crotch. The demonic man yowled, his hands coming down to the only external organ he had that still bore use, or rather had, and using the fact she was being held up, she pushed her weight into the two holding her, her feet planting in the chest of the vile creature before her and sending him flying backwards as she pushed all her strength into him. He sailed through the air, crashing into the stone wall, making the room vibrate. He slid down, the cracked imprint of his body imbedded in the wall permanently.
He was on his feet in a moment, all traces of humour gone, red eyes blazing with fury. "Little bitch!" He spat the words before walking back to where they all stood, a cruel, disgusting scowl on his face. "I'm going to do things to you until you beg me to grant you the mercy to die!" His words, seething with his rage, spat venom at her as he walked closer. "And then I'm going to tear you limb from limb and burn each piece of you in front of you and that witch over there, but not before I bring your precious,sweet little sister down here and do exactly the same to her."
That was it. The rage which had been boiling, merely brewing beneath the surface, having heard him insult not only her, but Alec, the boy in the cage now writhing in Felix's hold, trying to break free so he could attempt to come to her aid; and now hearing him threaten Penelope, the rage reached an exploding point, and it spewed from her.
Black tendrils shot from her, wrapping around the two men who, foolishly, still held her arms. Black veins crawled their way up her arms, the wisps of her blonde hair turning the blackest black as they fell in front of her face. It was like an explosion. The two men, the ones who had been first impacted by the blast coming from her own body of the darkness fell to the floor screaming, howling as it devoured them. They writhed, screeching with their pain. Good. The cruel thought brought a twitch to her otherwise still lips as the darkness found the other half of the quartet who had accompanied the monster into the room. They too, like their friends, fell to her power, screaming, the noise echoing off the dungeon walls.
The monster hissed and snarled at her , spitting his words. "You witch! You lied!" It wasn't hard to know he was referencing all those years ago when she had protested, lied, that she had no ability when they tried to force it out of her on that torture device.
Yevgeni spared on last glance at his fallen soldiers before he disappeared. It made no difference; she knew Aro wasn't far behind with everyone else. He would die this day regardless of what time during it.
The men became ashes beneath her feet as she stepped over a pile of them where one of the soldiers had stood, her fingers closing around the bars of the cage that held those she had come to liberate, her eyes sliding shut as she commanded the darkness that still lingered around her. Just how much was she holding inside? It was strange, to have it all exposed now, and it felt liberating, as though she had nothing left to fear in the world, as though all her worries and silly judgements had simply vanished, unleashed onto those who threatened those whom she had come to class as her never imagined family over the last few decades.
The cage croaked and groaned as it fell to the ground, becoming, like the once men behind her, mere ashes. Her hands fell limply to her sides as she swayed, feeling increasingly faint mentally. Can vampires pass out?
Hands swept under her legs and a gust of cool air told her they had moved. Soft smells that comforted her surrounded her, and she breathed them in, savouring them. A hand gripped her shoulder as she was placed back onto her feet, swaying slightly before she opened her eyes, angry yet relieved black ones right in front of them.
Their owner hissed. "Do you have anyidea how furious I am with you? You foolish girl. You could have gotten yourself slaughtered, or worse." The angelic boy before he gave a shudder as he remembered all those years ago. "Do you know what they would have done? Olivia, do you? He would have raped you in front of us all and then killed you, burned you! Why would you come and put yourself potentially through that?"
A large hand pulled him away from her as they looked out a window. It was then she took in her new surroundings. They were no longer in the dungeons, but a spiral staircase with a large window. She too, like her coven mates, turned towards it, able to see the advancing sea of red, black and grey as they stormed towards the castle -she easily recognised the three masters amongst them, leading the way towards them. It brought a slight tilt of her lips. "I knew they would come," she answered Alec, the vampire in question tilting his head downwards at an angle to look at her. "Aro said he would come within four days if I hadn't returned with you all."
Jane nodded, seemingly thinking over her words before she hummed. "Let us leave this place, join the battle."
Alarm raced through her as a voice began to nag her mind. Are you truly going to let your sister die? She too was lied to, she's innocent, she doesn't deserve to become another victim in this struggle for power. The words shot from her mouth before she could stop them. "What about my sister, Jane? Am I just meant to leave her to die?"
The older twin rounded on her. "Your sister is a part of this coven!" She hissed at her. "She was sired by your rapist, or have you forgotten in your attempt to play hero?"
Alec gave a hiss at her harsh words and Olivia scowled. "Lied to, Jane, she was deceived." She gave a shrug of her shoulders. "And well, if you won't entertain the idea of getting her, then I guess I will, myself," she hissed back, vaulting past them and out of the widow. Enraged hisses came from the quartet she left behind, but she didn't care. She couldn't, she wouldn't lose Penelope again when she had just found her.
It wouldn't happen, not if she had anything to do with it.
Stone clashing against stone echoed in her ears as she came to the top of the tower that the staircase had been housed in. Fires were already in place on the battlefield, the smell of burning immortal flesh ticking her nose. It wasn't a pleasant smell in the slightest. She refocussed her gaze as she swept the battlefield -no sign of her sister. She saw the others, the four she'd left behind in the staircase, vault themselves out of the window, rushing to join their coven mates on the battlefield, Alec spinning around to look for her.
Her red eyes locked with his black ones within a second and he then looked to her left, making a motion with his hand. She followed his line of sight, and then she saw her.
Two men, clad in dark blue and black, dragged her sister across the top of the battlements. Her eyes narrowed. How dare they. Her muscles coiled and she sprang into the air with not an ounce of grace, just raw power. The wind whipped her hair before she came to land on the back of one of the men, hands gripping under his jaw in an instant and the screeching sound as she tore his head off, the sound of nails on a chalkboard screeching echoing around her.
The other man hissed when Penelope suddenly rounded on him, her hands finding his head, taking advantage of his surprise, and he fell, decapitated, to the ground just like his friend. Olivia seized her into her arms, ignoring the battle currently going on. She was okay, the thought slipped through her mind. Penelope gripped her back. "I'm so sorry," she wept, gripping her tightly, her nails digging crescent moon shaped scars into her shoulders. "I should have gotten you out yesterday and I didn't," she continued before pulling back and turning her gaze to the war waging on in front of them. Jane and Alec were making easy work of them from the sidelines, the dark mist spreading across the field slowly, the more than six dozen vampires on the opposition falling to the ground under his gift.
Penelope gave a soft whimper under her breath, gripping her hand tighter. "Am I going to die for being on the other side?"
She looked at her sister, taller than her due to their physical age difference, and she gave her hand a squeeze before pulling her off the battlements with her, eager to join the war and unleash her own revenge that had been decades in the making."Not if I have anything to do with it," came her murmured reply, a mere whisper caught on the breeze as they raced towards where the rest of her coven were gathered, tossing still twitching body parts into the roaring bonfire no doubt Caius had assembled.
She should have known it would never be that easy.
"Witch!"
A shimmering haze shot towards both she and Penelope, and instinctively she grabbed her younger sister around the waist and shoulders, throwing her with all her strength, which, after the over usage of her gift wasn't much. Penelope just sailed through the air, passing by the shimmering haze before it would have cut her off had she been thrown a second later. It enclosed around herself, and she heard the panicked shout of Alec as he no doubt raced forward, a pained shout as he hit whatever was keeping them apart. She looked over her shoulder, his dark eyes wide with his panic at being separated from her once more.
Yevgeni, and a man she'd never seen before, stood a hundred feet away, they too enclosed within the shimmering wall. He pointed something at her, and she focussed her eyes upon it; they widened once she saw what it was, the ornate, jewel encrusted handle obvious to even Alec as she heard his sharp intake of air behind her. He too must recognise them from Aro's book about the Cursed Blades. Such a sight, and with the knowledge of what they would do to vampires such as herself, made her grow still.
There were no more words; the monster rushed towards her, the man she didn't know following close behind -he must be a shield of some sort, like Renata, the said woman clinging to her masters side in horror as she too watched.
Drained from the explosion of her ability, she was no match for the two men as they came rushing at her. Faint wisps of darkness slipped from her fingers, but it was no use. Yevgeni slammed her to the ground, Penelope screeching somewhere in the distance -"Get off my sister! Get off her before I tear you apart! I'll kill you! Get off of my sister."
Her screams did no use.
Searing pain slashed across her abdomen as she defended a blow from the unnamed man, her movements stilling as she took an unsteady back, glancing down as she did. The blade, so feared by even the Masters that stood behind her, was protruding from her stomach, and by god it burned. It burned worse than her transformation had, a scream slipping past her lips as she fell backwards. It was a never-ending pain. She could hear shouting as she fell to the ground, the world fading into nothing.
Yevgeni gloated with a wide smile, coming to stand over her as the world grew dark around her, but he wasn't prepared for the attack. The man behind him choked suddenly, an almost bizarre reaction from someone who didn't need air. The vampire turned around, and he soon saw the cause behind it. His own sired immortal, the woman whom he'd attempted to court many a time, believing her power held the key to their rule and domination, had her hand outstretched, eyes squeezed shut.
Thick, black sludge choked the man beside him, pouring from every facial orifice, suffocating the creature. It fell in huge globs from his face, until, after a minute, there weren't any more left to fall, and he fell to the ground, a blackened husk of who he used to be. The woman across from him swayed, weakened, but he knew, and so did Penelope. She raised her hand to him, unaware of her captive audience, and he felt himself soon collapse after a world of fire and torment, he too becoming a blackened husk.
The shimmering wall fell and she rushed forward, pulling the limp and still form of her sister in her hands, that awful blade procuring from her abdomen -she pulled it out and threw the horrible weapon away, leaning down to press her forehead to her sisters, clutching her tightly. Blackened sludge covered her fingers, the venom having been poisoned in her small body. It coated her fingers, but she didn't care.
Five approached her, one of them being Aro, and he took in the sight of the woman cradling his soldier with a sigh. "I saw you through her memories, Miss Felton, but I didn't believe we would meet." Hs words were ashy, as though he hadn't contemplated he might lose a guard of his own, the Volturi normally coming out unscathed since the acquisition of the two twins who stood at his side, Alec dropping to his knees beside the dark blonde haired girl who laid comatose in her sisters lap, slowly reaching out to brush the tatted hair off her pale cheek as his heart shattered. He placed his hand in his masters to convey his anguish -"Is she gone?"
The man he respected like a father reached down, placed a hand on his dark haired head, and then reached down to pluck up the hand of the woman who had no doubt been instrumental in bring about this extraordinary defeat of such a powerful coven. Her mind warred still, screaming and wailing as it burned, the poison coming from the blade battling with the venomous cells in her small body. "She isn't gone, my dear, but she needs to be looked after." He glanced behind him to the woman who stood with her mate. "Chelsea, come take Miss Felton and do your best to heal her." The mahogany haired woman darted forth immediately, bringing the comatose blonde into her arms, cradling her before she motioned to a few of the lower guard and they disappeared off into the distance, heading back to Volterra ahead of everyone else.
Aro stared at the woman before him, her facial features not too unlike her sisters, just seemingly older, and not bearing the signs of seeing such horrors like her older sister had. He had seen how she'd been horrified, betrayed, lied to. Perhaps there would be a use for her. "Penelope, quite a few of your coven mates escaped; know where we can find them?"
She gave a sharp nod as she climbed to her feet. "I do, and I have something to ask." She wrung her blackened fingers before offering him her hand, which he snatched eagerly, greedily, her mind showing him everything: all the possible hideouts, the escape plans that had been in place should this day come and they were unprepared. He took it all in like a starving, dehydrated man did his first meal.
Her thoughts, her current thoughts, also played through. She spoke to him directly. "I understand my crimes are great, and I deserve to be punished," the words pained her to think, to say to him, and he saw her devastation at saying such, knowing she could face death even after just finding her last remaining flesh and blood again. "I ask you grant me mercy, so that I may find and hunt down and slaughter those who wronged my sister. I understand if you decline, but I beg you, allow me the chance to redeem myself in the eyes of your just laws and avenge my sister."
Her words gave him consideration and he released her hand, pressing his fingers to his lips. She swallowed -no doubt a nervous reaction that required no air- and he gave her a sharp look. "My dear, your crimes are indeed great; however," he saw her hands tremble as he spoke. He could also hear the hiss of his fair haired brother behind him, no doubt wanting her executed for her allegiance with this enemy coven. He didn't fault him for it, but her gift, it was glorious, to watch her bring down two incredibly powerful men, and through a shield no less! It would be a shame to have her destroyed, her gifts far too valuable.
He continued. "If you do indeed aid in hunting down, and destroying, the remainder of those who escaped, I will indeed reconsider having you tried and executed for your crimes."
She let out a soft exhale, giving him a firm nod. "Understood; when do we start?" He gave a slight twitch of his lips, glancing at the dark haired boy whom he'd personally sired, his dark eyes so empty as he stared at the spot where the girl he wanted as a mate had laid just moments before. He placed a hand on his shoulder, the dark haired immortal not even looking up at him. "Olivia has fought this far, my boy." Dark eyes then found his own, and he was taken aback with how much the resembled his brothers behind him, the life having left them long ago. He stared at them, seeing the encroaching emptiness and he made a note to converse with both Charmion and his brother later.
The boy under his hand nodded, linking his arm with his sister before he too turned to rejoin everyone else and head back to their home. He sighed. The war had been won, at least this one, and as he stared at the boy whom he'd sired many centuries ago, he just couldn't shake the feeling, no matter how disturbing, that a greater struggle, more brutal than any war, was yet to come.
Author note: I have literally been waiting to write this chapter for months (we do love writers block). Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I'll see how quickly I can get another one out considering I literally just wrote this in two hours.