Hello everyone and happy 2021! I'm so so sorry for the delay! Life got a bit hectic and just when things started to settle down, I unfortunately, along with several members of my family, caught COVID. While I'm over the worst of the symptoms, the virus really takes the wind out of you. Thankfully everyone in my family is slowly on the mend but it was a bloody scary period there for a while.
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has or know someone who has this horrific virus – I honestly would not wish it on my worst enemy!
A massive thank you to those who sent their support and well-wishes, I honestly cannot thank you enough!
While it is definitely taking longer than I expected, I will 100% finish this story!
"Father, the Volturi have arrived and have penetrated the underground base," Maysun reported after receiving several notifications on her phone about security breaches. She had been alive long enough to know that while the rapid advancements in technology meant a greater risk of exposure, technology could be their greatest asset.
Maysun and her father were in a room in the heart of their underground Roman home they affectionately called "The Hive". The Hive was a room filled with dozens of screens that provided live feedback from the security cameras that covered every inch of the base.
The underground fortress her father built had been decades in the making. It was essentially a giant maze with so many dead ends that if you didn't know where you were going, it would be easy for Maysun or any of her other sisters to get the drop on any intruders.
"I am aware," Joham replied in a bored tone as he surveyed the screens, "You and your sisters know what to do".
Maysun froze.
'Is…is he serious?' Maysun thought in disbelief, 'We are completely outpowered and outnumbered. Our best chance of survival is to stay in The Hive and wait it out'.
"Problem Maysun?" her father's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
Maysun hesitated for a moment.
"Is that really so wise? We are already out-" Maysun stopped talking when she realised that her father had turned his full attention away from the security screens and was staring at her. It took very ounce of her courage and self-control not to burst out crying or flee. She felt like she was some poor rabbit who was about to be ripped apart by a predator.
"W-We'll make it work," Maysun blurted out, "Forgive me for my earlier comments Father. We'll make it work".
Joham smiled softly at his daughter, "That's what I thought you said". Maysun gave a strained smile before she quickly turned and left The Hive. She quickly messaged Serena and Jennifer as she made her way to another safe room located in the fortress.
Maysun had only walked a few steps before Serena appeared in front of her.
Maysun did her very best to hold herself together. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream, cry or flee.
"What's wrong?" Serena asked in concern upon seeing her sister, "Has Father ordered us to evacuate?".
"No," Maysun whispered, "He wants us to defend the base but there's so many enemies! We're going to die! We're going to-".
Maysun was cut off after Serena slapped her.
Serena placed her hands on Maysun's shoulders, "We have to trust Father. He knows what's best".
Maysun stared at her sister in disbelief, "Serena, there are so many Volturi guards. If we attack, we are going to get slaughtered. We will be ripped to pieces!".
Maysun pulled up a live feed of the enemies on her phone and showed her sister, "See! The Cullens would be a challenge but we have the Volturi guards to deal with! And not just any guards, the best of the best!".
Serena's face betrayed no emotions as she stared at the footage on Maysun's phone.
"What's happening?" Jennifer appeared behind her two half-sisters, "I got your text and came here as planned".
Maysun looked at her younger half-sister but before she could say anything, Serena spoke first, "There are intruders. Father has ordered us to carry out the defence protocol".
Jennifer frowned slightly and looked at Maysun who refused to meet her gaze.
"How many are there?" Jennifer asked sensing something was amiss.
Serena scoffed, "It doesn't matter. Resume your position as we've planned for. I'm going to go see Father to ensure that the rest of the protocols are in place. Where is he?".
"He's in The Hive," Maysun replied.
Serena went to leave but paused as she studied her two half-sisters, more specifically Maysun who knew what the sisters were up against, "I know you're concerned but have faith in Father. Stick to the plan".
Serena left moments later.
Jennifer frowned in confusion before she looked at Maysun. It was only than that Jennifer actually saw the condition that Maysun was in – the sheer terror in her eyes.
"Maysun," Maysun looked at Jennifer, "What are we up against?".
Maysun wordlessly handed Jennifer her phone with a live feed of the Volturi and the Cullens.
"There's so many," Jennifer whispered in disbelief as she surveyed the live feed of the group of vampires on Maysun's phone screen, "How does Father expect us to beat them all? They even brought the demon twins".
Maysun nodded in agreement, "I don't know how Father is expecting us to do this. We'll be annihilated".
Jennifer was silent for a moment, "What's Serena's opinion on this? Does she actually know what we are up against? How many enemies we have?".
Maysun raised an eyebrow at Jennifer in disbelief over her comment.
Jennifer cringed in response, "Great. So she fully supports it".
"Well…she fully believes that Father, no matter what, can do no wrong," Maysun replied in annoyance, "Even if we end up as collate damage".
The two half-sisters stood quietly for a moment as they continued to watch the live feed of the intruders.
"Do you think if we surrendered, they would show us mercy?" Jennifer asked her sister softly.
Maysun scoffed, "The Volturi don't do mercy".
"…we could try though? Best case, we get to live. Worst case, we still die…but hopefully in a less painful way".
Maysun chuckled softly, "You've always been so optimistic".
"Someone needs to drag you out of your gloomy state," Jennifer teased. The mood between the two turned sombre once more.
Jennifer was the first to break the silence, "We can only ask…we can only do it before Serena gets back".
"Seriously though Jen, why would we?" Maysun heavily sighed, "It'll be death for us either way".
Jennifer swallowed nervously as the true gravity of the situation started to really sink in, "You're right. We either get a quick and painless death or we will end up in a situation where we will be wishing we were dead. However, it would be better than anything Father would do to us should we survive and fail to win this very much unwinnable fight".
Maysun slowly nodded, the clogs turning in her head trying to figure out how they could walk away from this alive.
"We can only ask".
I stared at the mangled corpse of the creature I had just killed.
"Renata," I whispered so softly that only she could hear, "What the hell did I just kill?".
Renata frowned as she studied the dead creature, "I…I don't know. I've never seen anything like it in my life".
"Never?" I asked in disbelief.
Renata hesitated, "I would have said werewolf because it kind of smells like one but…that's definitely no werewolf".
"We need to re-group with the others. We'll continue to head back the way we came," I turned to Nessie, "Nessie, sweetie. I'm going to need you to keep your eyes closed. I'm going to carry you for the time being okay? We need to move and we need to move fast".
"Okay," Nessie responded softly, "What was that roar?". I wrapped my arms around Nessie's waist and hoisted her up into a bridal position within my arms.
"I'm not too sure," I confessed, "But we need to move quickly and re-group with the others".
Renata and I raced through the winding corridors and I sighed in reprieve when I saw Demetri, Alice and Jasper come into view.
"Nessie!" Alice cried in relief.
I placed Nessie down and smiled fondly as she dashed over and hugged her aunt.
"Demetri, do you know where the others are? We need to re-group and get out of here as soon as possible. I think we know why Alice's visions weren't working," I said in a serious voice which caused the animal drinkers and my niece to look at me in concern.
"Why?" Alice asked in confusion, "I've never had this happen before. Only around the shapeshifter pack".
I cringed internally as I made eye contact with Demetri. I knew what I was about to tell him was not going to go down well.
I hesitated for a moment and then sighed, "I'm pretty sure I just snapped a werewolf's neck".
Demetri's expression would have been absolutely comical if not for the direness of the situation.
"…pardon?" Demetri asked. I didn't think it was possible, but he was looking a bit more pale than usual.
"I don't know whether it was a werewolf for sure, but I snapped the creature's neck regardless," I repeated again.
Demetri's gaze snapped to Renata.
The two had a silent conversation with their eyes before Renata eventually just shrugged her shoulders. I did feel slightly sorry for my guard. Despite the best efforts of my mates and my guard, I was very much like my twin - danger was attracted to us.
"This way your highness," Demetri bowed as he directed me towards a specific hallway, "I can sense his grace is this way".
I looked at my niece, "Are you okay to walk?". Nessie nodded her head while Alice and Jasper quickly stood on either side of her, ready to attack anything that even looked at my niece the wrong way.
At least the animal drinkers are useful for something.
Our small group swiftly made our way through the seemingly never-ending tunnel systems and I had never felt so relieved when I saw Caius along with several of the Volturi guards who came with us and the rest of the Cullens...though Jane and Alec were missing.
"Nessie!" Bella cried in relief as she rushed towards her daughter, pulling her into hug with Edward not much further behind.
I felt Caius' eyes linger on me, "What did you do?".
My gaze snapped to his, "What?".
"What did you do?" he repeated his question as I watched his eyes scan every inch of my cloaked form.
"What makes you say that?" I asked curiously, not exactly denying that something happened.
I suddenly became aware that everyone was watching the interaction between my mate and I.
Caius did not appreciate my question, "Demetri looks like he had a heart attack and your coat is torn".
I looked down in surprise and saw a large chuck of my cloak had scratch marks. Thankfully nothing had hit me and the damage to the cloak was much worse than what actually happened but I could see why Caius was not exactly pleased.
Nessie smiled at her uncle, "Aunty Lottie killed a werewolf".
Silence.
Absolute silence.
I swear if someone decided to drop a pin or even a button, you would have been able to hear it from the coven.
'Bless Nessie's sweet innocence,' I thought to myself, 'She probably has no idea about the beast she just unleashed'.
Caius' face went completely blank as his eyes drilled into mine, "You what?".
"It…it wasn't really a werewolf," I weakly defended myself.
"And that makes this better how?" Caius immediately snapped back.
I grimaced at his tone though I completely understood where he was coming from. Caius had told me in great length and detail about his encounters with werewolves. They were definitely not a creature to mess with and even if whatever I killed wasn't completely a werewolf, the danger had I messed up my attack would have resulted in me being severely injured…or possibly dead.
I walked over to Caius and placed my hand on his chest, sending as much of my love and understanding through our bond as possible.
"I'm sorry my strength. The creature came across us suddenly and I had to protect my niece," I spoke softly to him in French, "I'm so sorry for causing you such stress".
"We will discuss this later," he snapped back in French.
I knew better than to take his snarky comment to heart due to the circumstances but my heart ached over the fact that my mate was angry with me.
Caius must have sensed my sadness as he sighed softly before placing his hand underneath my chin and forced me to meet his gaze, "I'm not mad at you. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you. Let's focus on the task at hand and we will discuss this later".
Before anyone could make another comment, Jane and Alec appeared…and Alec had a seemingly lifeless body swung over his shoulder.
"Masters," Jane greeted, "We have located Sulpicia".
Alec continued, "She was non-responsive when we came across her and seems to be completely paralysed".
"That's what happened to me," Nessie panicked, "I was injected with something and my entire body became paralysed".
I grimaced, "So not only has Joham been experimenting on werewolves but he's experimenting on vampires".
Caius frowned.
"We found additional abominations on our way," Jane continued, "They were dealt with appropriately".
"Vampire or werewolf?" I asked trying to understand the extent of Joham's madness.
The twins shared a look before Alec spoke, "I apologise your highness but…we're not exactly sure. Our powers worked on them, but they were unlike anything else we had ever seen before".
"Though we think there were humans in the mix as well," Jane added, "Slow speed and easily broken. All signs of something that was once human".
Alec glanced at his twin, "Or something that was once a vampire or werewolf".
Jane glimpsed at Alec before her attention focused on myself and Caius, "Or something that was once a vampire or werewolf".
"Traditionally, I would have him arrested and face the full brunt of the Volturi justice," Caius hummed, "However, the last thing we need to do is give any other vampires any ideas about picking up where Joham left off. Word of this cannot get out. We need to end this now".
"How though? We have no idea how many enemies there are? I can't see anything which means there are more were-creatures out there," Alice said in worry.
I scoffed, "The Volturi do not require such petty things to ensure victory".
"Guards," Caius ordered, "Commence Operation Inferno".