It's not my playground just my slide.

I have no beta.

BPOV

Caius and Jasper were pissed. When Caius said he was going to make an example out of the idiot vampire, he wasn't joking. In fact, once all of the occupants of the castle gathered in the throne room, they were also pissed.

Apparently, since I am Caius's granddaughter, I am also the Volturi's princess. I just thought everyone was protecting me because I was Caius's blood relation. Now I find out that I am some sort of royalty and that's why they are all protective of me.

The entire Volturi coven, including those I haven't met yet or didn't even know about, were ordered to the throne room. I never imagined how large the Volturi coven was. It was massive. According to Jasper, it is the largest coven in the world which is why most vampires refuse to go up against them.

Caius had me sit on his throne as he addressed the coven. "You have all been ordered to attend this session. This fool tried to attack my granddaughter," he snarled. There were many growls that I could hear coming from all over the throne room. I had made many friends here and was happy to see how much they cared.

"Please, Master Caius, I'm sure Christian didn't mean to cause your granddaughter any harm," a female said quietly as she approached Caius with her head bowed in submission.

Caius just stared at her like she was the dumbest vampire ever. He walked over to me and motioned for me to show my upper arm and the darkening bruised that covered it. It was already a very dark purple and in the shape of the moron's handprint.

"Does this look like he didn't mean to harm her?" he growled out.

"It's her own fault. A human has no business roaming around in the castle. Besides, she's nothing more than a walking blood bag," a much shorter male yelled out. A split second later, his dismembered head was rolling across the stone floor. I looked up and saw Emmett snarling angrily.

"Excellent work, Mr. McCarty," Marcus said quietly with a satisfied grin.

"Your coven seems to be under some mistaken notion that you have any say in what does and does not happen in this castle," Aro added.

"Your coven was invited here to partake of our hospitality. You were given specific orders to not hunt in Volterra. You were also told to not attack anyone in the castle. Your foolish coven member decided to disobey our very direct orders," Marcus reminded them.

"Since it was Bella that was wronged, it should be Bella that decides what his punishment will be," Aro suggested looking over in my direction. Caius whipped his head around to look at Aro. When his gaze moved over to me, he had a calculating look in his eye.

"I agree," Marcus piped in while failing at trying to hold back his eagerness.

I had a feeling they were testing me to see how ruthless I can be and whether would I be able to dole out punishments in the future. I narrowed my eyes as I stared right back at Caius. "Well, he broke the rules which were bad enough. Clearly, he has no respect for authority. I also took offense at the fact that he thought he could try to make me into his personal snack cake. I say burn him. That way, we can use him as an example and maybe others will think twice about disobeying a direct order."

Caius grinned proudly as did Jasper. He looked over at Jasper and gave him a brief nod. Jasper yanked the moron roughly out of Felix's hold and proceeded to dismember him quickly. I was barely able to make out what Jasper was doing since he felt the need to do it at vampire speed. However, the tell-tale screeching from the idiot's appendages being removed was not difficult to miss.

All but one of Christian's fellow coven members had an issue with his punishment. Even the coven leader turned to attack Jasper. They didn't get far, since Jane used her gift and the two of them fell to the floor in agony.

The one who didn't attack did the smart thing. She put her hands up in surrender and took several steps away from the other two who were still screaming in pain. She looked down on them in derision and didn't seem to care about their pain.

"I do not agree with those fools," she proclaimed with a sneer. "May I leave in peace?"

Jasper eyed her closely, judging her emotions. "She is telling the truth," he said to the kings.

"You shall be allowed to leave. Do not linger in Volterra or we will view it as an act of defiance and will deal with it accordingly," Caius said. The female gave a deep bow and then flashed out of sight. If she was smart, she would do as she was ordered. "Heidi, follow her and make sure she leaves. Report back to me once you're finished."

The other two and Christian were gathered up into a pile and a lighter was thrown on top causing the bodies to catch on fire instantly. Their screams were so loud that my ears rang but I sat there and watched.

Christian's mouth was opened wide in a silent scream and I watched in morbid fascination as his head was engulfed by flames and turned to ash a few moments later. This was vampire law. Since my mate was a vampire, it was important for me to learn and understand.

After the meeting in the throne room, Caius invited Jasper and me to his study to have another chat. I swear he likes to drive me insane with all these talks of his. I don't know whether or not he's angry or not. For all I knew, he could have been disappointed in me.

After sitting in our now customary seats, Caius sat back in his seat and gave me a calculating look. "I'm very proud of you, Bella. You handled that quite well. Not only was your punishment just, but you showed a great deal of strength to sit through all of that," he said with a wide grin.

"I just did what felt right. Besides, between you and Jasper, I know for a fact that becoming a vampire is in my future. I think it's important for me to learn and understand the different aspects of vampire life," I explained with a shrug. I always thought that learning as much as I could would help me with my transformation even back when I was dating Eddie boy.

"That's the right mindset in my honest opinion," Caius added while Jasper nodded in agreement. "Most of us were attacked and had no idea what was happening during our transformations. Having as much knowledge as possible going into your own transformation will prove to be helpful."

"She's always been very nonjudgmental and understanding about us," Jasper said as he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I smiled at him and returned his squeeze which he probably didn't even feel.

"I wanted to touch base with you on your room," Caius started and I immediately perked up. "It's finished. I had someone bring your things back to your room. I just wanted to point out that little agreement we made about you two abstaining from sex while your room was getting done."

"Okay, what about it?" I asked.

"Oral sex is also considered sex, you know?" he asked. If he could blush, he would have. I refused to be goaded or feel guilty for what I and my mate had done.

"It depends on who you talk to. Some people claim that sex requires penetration," I replied as I looked him in the eye. "It's me. I'm some people," I joked and Jasper snorted trying to hide his laughter.

"Bella, what did we talk about?" Jasper reminded me. My beloved mate was always worried that I was going to eventually say something that would get him killed.

"You asked me to not do or say anything that could possibly get you killed," I repeated for him.

"Yea, so why are you still being sarcastic?" he asked.

"I do it because I'm good at it. I always say that you should stick to what you know," I said with a wide grin.

Caius chuckled as he watched me and Jasper. "You have nothing to worry about, Major. Bella is a lot like me. Her sarcasm doesn't bother me in the slightest. If anything, it makes me proud."

I smiled at him. I loved knowing that he and I were so much alike. "See? It's all good," I said to my mate.

"For now, it is," Jasper mumbled.

"Jas, you need to relax. I know it's instinct to be on guard but there are times and places where you can let loose a little," I said. He continued to stare at me for a few moments before finally nodding his head in agreement.

"Good! Now that it is behind us, I need to talk to you, Bella, about introducing you to my beloved mate, Athenadoro," Caius said.

"Mate?" I yelled out in question. "Why is this the first time I'm hearing about you having a mate?"

"I didn't say anything before because she is in seclusion," Caius replied quickly.

"What do you mean by seclusion?" I asked not even near sure of what he was talking about.

"I put my beloved mate in a secluded part of the castle for her own safety," he said. I went to interrupt, but he put his hand up to stop me. "A few millennia ago, the coven was attacked by the Romanians. We lost many coven members that day including Marcus's mate, Dydime. Ever since then, I have made sure that my mate is always protected," he finished.

I sat still for a few moments just trying to digest what Caius told me. Poor Marcus lost his mate. It's no wonder why he looks so sad.

"Cai, I don't fault you for feeling the need to protect your mate. Honestly, I have been wondering why Marcus looks so sad all the time. I feel terrible that he lost his mate," I said as I fought back the tears that threatened to spill over. I really liked Marcus, and I didn't think he deserved to feel so much pain. "However, don't you think it would be wiser to teach your mate how to defend herself instead of hiding her away? God forbid that the Volturi are ever attacked again. Wouldn't you want her to be able to fight off any possible attackers? As of right now, you have her as nothing more than a sitting duck."

Caius stared at me for a few minutes. I hoped that I hadn't crossed the line with him. I just didn't understand why he never had his mate trained to defend herself.

"You may have a point," he said slowly. "I will consider it. Meanwhile, would you like to meet my Doro?"

"I would love to. Does this mean she's my grandma?" I teased.

I watched as Caius winced when I referred to his mate as grandma. "I'll leave that up to her," he replied with a shudder.

I thought it was funny how Caius was so averse to the idea of being referred to as my grandpa. He was my great, great, great, and so on grandfather. It's not like he could escape the facts.

We were now on our way up to Rapunzel's tower to meet my grandmother. Aro had nabbed Jasper to discuss something with him, so it was just me and Caius heading to the tower. "Are you familiar with the story of Rapunzel?" I asked as we walked up a multitude of steps.

"I don't believe so," he admitted.

"May I suggest that you look into it and then decide if hiding your mate in the tower is such a good idea?"

"I will do just that," he said as we finally reached the very top of the tower. There was a door directly across from the steps and a lone male vampire stood there guarding it. He gave Caius a deep vow and reached over to open the door for him.

We stepped inside to see a large circular room which was a great deal larger than what I thought a tower room would be. The walls were painted a soft ecru with paintings and tapestries hung here and there. A massive floor-to-ceiling bookcase took up one side of the room. A plush throw rug was situated in the center of the room.

There was no bed to take up any space but there were a few chaise lounges and some thickly padded chairs. In one part of the room, there was a large easel with a partially painted canvas of a gorgeous meadow on it.

Hanging from the wall on the opposite side were several stringed instruments. I recognized a guitar, lyre, dulcimer, violin, viola, and even a banjo. There was a music stand nearby with some sheet music sitting on it. Next to that was an antique harpsichord. The lid was opened and I could see that a lovely mountain landscape had been painted on the underside.

"Bella," Caius said trying to get my attention. I looked back over at him and smiled. His arm was wrapped tightly around the waist of a gorgeous statuesque blond with dark ruby eyes. She was breathtakingly beautiful and I could see why Caius was so protective. "I would love for you to meet my stunning mate, Athenadoro," he said.

"It's great to meet you. I would have preferred to come sooner, but you were being kept a secret," I said while looking over at Caius and giving him the stink eye.

"I refuse to apologize for trying to protect my mate," Caius said stubbornly.

"I don't expect you to, Grandpa. I'm just hurt that you didn't have any faith in me," I said laying it on thick while giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

Caius's mate gasped while she rushed over to wrap me up in her arms. "Caius, for shame," she chastised him. "How could you treat our granddaughter like that?"

"That's another thing," I said quietly. "He said he doesn't want me to call him grandpa," I whispered trying to hold back a laugh. The look on Caius's face was so worth it. He was in trouble now.

"There, there, dear, don't you pay him any mind. He likes to think he's a tough guy but deep down inside he is thrilled to have you as his granddaughter," she said giving me a gentle hug. "Come, dear, let's sit down and have a nice chat," she said as she stepped forward and grabbed my hand, and led me over to the settee. I followed her without question. I glanced back to see that Caius was still standing there in shock. I laughed quietly to myself. Revenge really was sweet.

A/N: My family and I are dealing with a crisis. I am not sure when I will be able to update again. None of my fics will ever be abandoned.