"Who did he dispose of so quickly?" Vladimir asked Stefan who shrugged casually.
"He went for Yoshio but got a hold of Lucia instead. Poor thing. She was smart too."
I looked up at Vladimir with rage, my face hurt from when he grabbed me and my ribs felt like they were cracked.
"What the hell was that?!" I snapped, finally.
For the entire time we had been in each other's presence, Vladimir and I kept a level of civility. It was an unspoken arrangement where we both knew I was in the middle of a bigger problem that the two of us had no need to fight over.
Even when I heard him talking about torturing Aro by hurting me, my mind hadn't really put together that it was going to happen. That he would do anything to me that I would take major issue with as long as he got his war. I wasn't sure why I thought that, maybe wishful thinking or a way of coping.
"It was simply an extra touch." Vladimir said with a smirk "Seeing how angry he got when he saw you in pain made me curious to how he would react if I kissed you." He chuckled a bit "It seems he has feelings for you after all. Frankly I've never seen him so angry. I do hope it will make him careless."
It was cruel the way he spoke, and yet something inside of me sprang to life. Aro hadn't lied...or at least not fully. He felt something for me, enough to react angrily at my pain and even more so to a kiss from another man. Especially one he hated so much. He wanted to protect me, not collect me. And that thought alone comforted me more than I had expected. And also made me feel slightly foolish. Like a little girl who found out her crush liked her back.
I managed to get to my feet and go out to the railing, looking out to the field where the Volturi and the makeshift Romanian clans were fighting. The noises coming from the impacts were unlike anything I had ever heard. Loud cracks that sounded like trees snapping in half.
I saw figures lunging at one another, moving with lightning speed and skill I could barely recognize. They looked like they were flying rather than running. Even vampires that were obviously not trained to fight in any way were moving in ways too complex for a human.
I could see Jane and Alec, surprisingly very far in the front. Given how much Aro treasures them, I had assumed they'd be positioned further back. But now watching them, it made sense. They both walked like they were taking a stroll in the park, vampires around them screaming in agony and others shaking and wandering lost.
I looked followed the lines of people fighting and observed someone massive fighting Thomas. I had never seen this man before, but he wasn't dressed in the matching black robes of the Volturi which led me to believe he was a Cullen. I gasped in terror as he grabbed either side of Thomas' head and twisted, separating it from his body entirely.
"Oh, Thomas, I expected you to make it." Stefan sighed.
I instantly snapped my head to look at him. He was watching as casually as one would a movie as was Vladimir. They had seen war, mortal and immortal alike, it was as if it no longer phased them.
My eyes returned to the scene in front of me, this time finding Aro instantly. He was not far away, as I had expected, instead he seemed to be trying to move forward, Caius only ten or so feet away, both of them fighting with a fury I could have never thought possible.
Watching Aro was like watching a horror ballet. He moved with such grace, it was like dancing and yet he was chillingly frightening. His robe billowed around him as he turned from victim to victim, dodging blows and delivering his own, tearing limbs off of the vampires that surrounded him.
I kept my eyes locked securely on him. My body wanting to push forward and help him. Do anything I could to stop the numbers of vampires lunging themselves at him. As if he felt my stare, Aro turned his head, meeting my eyes with his from a distance. His face was dirty but still beyond beautiful and his eyes piercing. We only shared this moment before...
Something hard hit the back of my head. It was so forceful my face went flying into the banister of the balcony, smashing my face and breaking my nose with a sickening crunch. I fell back to the ground, my nose throbbing and pouring out an alarming amount of blood. My lip was also bleeding, leaving me sputtering blood, my body shaking.
Tears formed in my eyes as I managed to sit up, looking over my shoulder at Vladimir who was standing right behind me. He was looking past me, however. I followed his gaze and managed to see Aro, the head of Celine in his grasp holding it by her hair, his other clenched into a fist.
His expression was what sent a chill through me. His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them, a rich red, like blood, and black creeping in from all sides. I looked back to Vladimir who wore a villainous smile, his expression wild. It appeared that of the two of them, Vladimir seemed to be the more reactionary. This was confirmed as he grabbed my hair and pulled me up.
I scrambled to my feet, my eyes never leaving Aro who was looking wild, taking down a few vampires swiftly before returning his gaze back to us. Vladimir held me against him, one hand pulling at the roots of my hair, the other arm around my throat in a headlock. I struggled as furiously as I could against Vladimir but it was no use. It must have been as pathetic as I imagined as Stefan let out an amused laugh.
I growled under my breath and tried to drop my weight, but that did nothing but leave me dangling, the arm that held me captive no budging . I was becoming frustrated with not being able to physically control the situations I was in. I spat out another bit of blood that had made its way into my mouth, the metal taste starting to add to my discomfort.
I took a few choppy but deep breaths. Nothing could be accomplished if kept fighting a losing battle and frankly, I needed my strength if Vladimir was intending on keeping this up. A disturbing but familiar feeling appeared next to my ear; Vladimir's lips.
"I am embarrassed to say it, but with him so close my patience is thinning." He whispered, I could feel a smile playing on his lips "Let us press him to get up here."
Before I could register what he meant, I felt an even colder feeling on my neck and slowly trail up to my bleeding lip. Out of the corner of my eye I finally found the source of it, Vladimir's tongue which now had a puddle of blood resting on it. Suddenly, tears started creeping down my face.
