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Here's the twist I'm sure you all saw coming! Enjoy

Luíseach POV

"Father, stop!" Pandora cried as she kicked the doors open.

I felt a sudden rush and then became aware of who and where I was again, all my memories morphing from those of Florin, back to those of my own life. Looking Aro straight in the face, I'm sure he'd realised what had just happened too. Pandora had just returned all of my memories of myself. No longer did I need to act as Florin's doppelgänger.

Using Aro's moment of disbelief to escape, I pushed Santiago away with my available hand which had been freed by Oktai and shifted back to my natural body.

I wasted no time in diving towards him. I could not afford to waste the element of surprise that I had. Aro's face had already begun to contort from surprise into calm resolve as he prepared himself to fight back.

It happened as my fist was centimetres away from his face. My body was suddenly somehow facing the other way. So this was Renata's power. I'd known she was a shield, but her reactions were just as sharp as mine.

"Luíseach, on your right!" Caius shouted. Turning my head, I saw Santiago running full speed at me, faster than any vampire I'd seen before. So they definitely hadn't succeeded in reversing Chelsea's bonds yet. This was going to be more difficult than I'd been led to believe. But if Athy and Panda had left it any longer, I'd no doubt have died as Florin in the flames that had just been ignited especially for that purpose, without any of my own memories to look back on as I burned.

As I crouched, bracing myself to tackle the encroaching vampire, Oktai leapt over me and clotheslined Santiago to the ground, pinning him and pulling off both of his arms, throwing them to the opposite side of the room.

"Caius, what have you been scheming?" Marcus yelled, throwing himself in front of a shocked Jojo and Erendu protectively.

"You'll understand soon enough," Caius growled, pouncing gracefully from his throne and trying in vain to swipe Renata out of the way. The exact same thing happened to him as with me. Despite his apparent immunity to physical attacks, Aro looked nervous. I couldn't believe that we'd managed to trick him into sending away almost everyone who could stand in our way of finishing him off. Pandora hadn't yet relinquished her illusion, as was evident by her dizziness. Both Athanasia and Theodotis had to support her in order for her to be able to stand.

"Caius, il mio fratello, I must second what Marcus said. You are aware of the contract you signed, aren't you? The one where you agreed that any attempt on my life would get you executed?" Aro said, eyes shifting between Caius and I.

"Contract, I don't know what you're talking about..." Caius and Marcus spoke at the same time. Aro's burgundy eyes turned to Pandora now in a look that I could almost describe as fear. He finally figured it out. She was one of the only ones with an ability that could thwart the entire coven, not to mention the only one who could make everybody forget such an important event.

Using this new hole in his resolve to my advantage, I transformed my body into that of Santiago, using his superior speed to catch Aro off guard, before he could react. Leaping into the air, I changed again, taking the form of Felix, borrowing his strength to try and smash through Renata's shield.

But I was turned around once again.

"Mum, it worked!" Athy screamed at me. Swivelling around, I saw that both Aro and Renata had moved back by a metre or so. Not only that, but Aro's face was now the picture of anxiety. How much force would it take to completely break Renata's shield? Maybe I could weaken it some other way.

"Luíseach, tell me, are we really being invaded, or is it all an illusion?" Aro asked, trying to distract me.

"A bit of both," I roared, engaging him again in the same attack as before, though this time Caius also attacked from the other side. As we both punched with all of our force, the reaction was double. Caius and me, once again in the form of Felix, were both thrown further back and Aro and Renata were knocked to the floor.

"The ones who are really there are all waiting, you see," Caius spoke, though this time, Aro's head did not turn to that of his brother, his eyes were focused solely on me, filled with the will to live.

"They're waiting for me to be instated as the rightful leader of the Volturi," my mate continued.

"Traitor!" Marcus yelled, lunging at Caius, who easily countered, ducking his punch and pushing Marcus face first into the marble floor as if it were as easy as walking.

"Dad!" Erendu shouted, sucking Caius's energy from him, causing him to fall to the floor, lethargically next to Marcus.

"That's incredulous! No one in their right mind would want a hot-headed warmonger like you as their leader!" Aro guffawed.

"Better than a narcissistic antiquarian," Caius hissed with what energy he could muster.

"Brilliant work Erendu," Aro smiled, "now do the same for Luíseach, and we can be done here."

I braced myself, ready to feel all of my strength rush out of me, but no such feeling came.

"Erendu, my son, please don't get involved. Take your mother and leave," Marcus muttered from his resting place on the floor, dearly hoping he didn't have to lose any more loved ones after Didyme. "Caius, Luíseach, please don't break apart our coven more than it already is."

"Marcus! This is finally your chance to do something right!" I pleaded, begging him to see my reasoning as Jojo and Erendu zipped past me and out of the doors. I caught Jojo's eye and she winked. Had Athanasia recruited her too and not told me?

"Pandora, I'm going to need you to make Renata forget her loyalties to Aro," I demanded, feeling power once again surge through my veins. "Athy, please take the children out of the room, they don't need to see this." Looking over at Caius, I could see that he had quietly got back to his feet, seemingly without Aro's knowledge. Jojo, however, had not returned Marcus's energy, perhaps in an attempt to keep him out of the fight.

I knew that if Erendu and Pandora were working together to weaken Aro and Renata, I could easily break the barrier to get to him. I squared up for one last charge, Caius too.

Hearing the great ash doors part to let the last survivors out, I charged with the appearance of Santiago, who Oktai was carrying from the room, leaving the five of us here. Three kings. The shield. And the spear.

At the last minute, I decided to transform into someone I'd long forgotten about. Someone who may well have been stronger than Felix in his day. The very someone who'd helped me take down every vampire we'd killed in Siberia to stop the divulging of Athanasia's true biology.

Constantinus was certainly not as larg as Felix, but his slightly more streamlined body gave me some extra speed as I punched in the direction of Aro's face once more. But instead of being turned around this time, I collided with Caius. Aro had grabbed Renata and ducked out of the way at the last minute, knowing her shield would likely take no more.

Constantinus' super-charged fist smashed straight into the face of my mate, sending him flying to the other end of the chamber. This bastard was about to pay.

Thankfully Aro's movements had become laggy. He appeared to have used what little strength he had left to move himself out of the way. I had to stop him from fleeing, now he knew there was no barrier of enemy vampires holding us in the town.

With a scream of fury, I charged without using up unnecessary energy to shift. My fist was stopped less than a mere centimetre from his face at this point. Pandora had been unsuccessful in making her forget her loyalties. It seemed Renata still had enough strength to just about protect her master.

This was my bad. How could I expect my daughter to be okay with this? It was not a question of exhaustion or lack of strength as she was now safely with Jojo, helping us from the shadows. No, she couldn't bring herself to be the one responsible for her father's murder.

Caius had still not moved from the place where he'd landed and Marcus had seemingly given up all will to fight completely. This was down to me.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back, Aro straddling me, his hands around my neck. He'd taken advantage of my distraction. Worrying about Caius and Pandora had provided him with an opportunity to jump me.

No matter how hard I tried to push him off me, I could do nothing more than gently brush his skin. Renata was holding on just enough to give Aro the upper hand, leaving me unable to physically attack him.

"Renata...do-don't you w-want to see your f-fam-" I choked out, knowing this was the only chance I had at reasoning with her. Back when Aro had introduced us to his first human companion, I'd tried to talk to Renata about her past in an attempt to stop her going to spy on her master. She'd told me about how her family was composed of a coalition of vampires and humans alike. But when Aro had heard of her talents, he insisted that she join the Volturi and she had not had the chance to visit them since, apart from those few nomads like Charles and Makenna who crossed paths with the Volturi. But before I could even attempt to reason with her, Aro placed a hand over my mouth, silencing me.

Was this really going to be how I died? I couldn't give up now, not after my whole family had sacrificed so much to get me to this point. I had a duty to them as well as myself.

"Jojo, what do you think I should do? I don't want to leave right now, especially now Pandora knows everything," I asked, hoping that someone in a similar situation as me would be able to shed some light.

"You've just gotta think about what you really want. I can't make the decision for you, but I think you should do something for yourself for once - you're always thinking about your family. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, but as a friend, that's the best advice I can offer," she shrugged, absentmindedly playing some chords at the piano.

"That's why I'm here now, anyway. It's because I didn't want to give up on my dream," she added.

"Thanks, you've given me something to think about," I murmured, making my way to my room. The kids would be back soon and I'd have to have made a decision by then. Decisions. Decisions. Why did it always seem to fall on me to make them?

Athy was right in a sense. I wasn't ready to give up playing queen. But what I wanted the most was a happy family. Something to replace the one I had lost all those years ago. I'd tried to fill the void with hatred and vengeance once already and although it was satisfying at the time, it did nothing to replace the love I'd lost.

It was only when Athy had been born that I truly felt a little more complete. Even adopting Oktai when he was a human stood out as something that made me happy. Even though I'd just corrupted him with the same hatred that had tormented me, encouraging him to avenge his parents. Being reunited with Caius felt right too, but then Aro had to come along and ruin my happy little family.

Was I just hooked on replacing what had been lost? Was I still so bitter about losing my parents, my friends, my community and our way of life, that I carried this hatred on through the centuries? No. I had to end it here. I would not kill Aro. I would not corrupt Pandora too. But was leaving her any better?

I heard them returning from the ballet, seemingly upbeat. I waited silently for Athanasia. I needed to tell her that we would be staying for a while more. Pandora deserved some happy memories at least before she was used in war.

"Athanasia, come here," I said, catching her as she was passing my room.

"So are you still planning on leaving tomorrow? Do I need to pack my bags?"

"Of course not. It's like you said," I sighed.

"Good, we've sorted everything out for the rev-"

"We're not doing that either."

"But you get to deal the killing blow! Demetri will be away on a mission. Pandora has all of Florin's memories now and Theo's in on it too so he can transfer them to you and then Pandora can make you forget all of yours. With you being able to mimic his scent, we have no better opportunity than this to kill him!

"Athanasia, just listen to yourself. This is not a game. You're asking two children to kill their own father."

"Not everyone's parents are good! I know my grandparents were lovely people who died horribly, but Pandora and Theo's dad is not!"

"But there's no such thing as good or bad, Athy, those are just words used to label those we disagree with. There are only those who are strong and those who are weak. How many have we killed? How many has Caius killed? If we're judging by actions alone, we're just as deserving of death. It just depends whose eyes you view it through."

"Fine, then we'll have to do it without you. It may be your choice to stay out of it, but we still want to live in a better future. Night."

I let her leave again. I didn't wish her goodnight. I knew that I was hurting Athy as well with my refusal to act, but it was for her own good, right?

After a couple of hours had passed and I'd told Caius of the events that had just occurred, I went to check on my girls.

To my surprise, both Pandora and Athanasia were sleeping peacefully, my youngest daughter lying in the arms of my eldest. Laughing to myself, I realised this was the only time they'd been able to get on with each other. When plotting murder. How cruel.

Who was I to deny them their revenge? If I killed Aro, was this the kind of peaceful life we'd be able to live? I hoped so.

Only time would tell.

Ideals and delusions may be what help us through the toughest decisions, but when push comes to shove, it's whose resolve is the strongest who will come out on top. Thanks for reading, the next chapter will be up next weekend as usual.