"Vladimir! What are you doing?!" Stefan hissed angrily, stepping forward, standing in front of us in panic. "You have had your fun, but you push it too far, too soon. We are still outnumbered and yet you anger him further?"
Finally, I was released, Vladimir pushing me out of his clutches and into the railing of the balcony. My hand instantly flew to my neck and chin which had thankfully just been bloodied up from my lip and nose. I looked at him and he looked different. Out of control. His nose was flared and his eyes dark.
"I don't care about those numbers." He answered Stefan "What matters is who of the five of us is left standing. He comes up here, we can take him and with him gone, Caius becomes more venerable. We both know Marcus will not carry on alone."
"You'll kill us! Bringing Aro's wrath is deadly and you know it." Stefan snapped.
"I want him DEAD!" Vladimir roared his eyes going from Stefan back to me "And this girl is going to distract his focus. Then I will kill her before I kill him, he will lose his mate just as we lost ours." He yelled, violently pointing in my direction.
Something in me ached for him. He was broken. Completely shattered. He was not the collected Vladimir I had met and I'm guessing he was even out of control by his usual standards then. Watching the man who killed your soulmate rise to power and humiliate you at every turn...I could see where it could destroy you.
"Where is he?" Stefan's worried voice broke me out of my focus.
Instantly, I looked to the field where Aro had been fighting. But he was not there. Caius still stood fighting furiously but Aro had vanished. Instead, Carlisle and another man with darker golden hair fought where he had once stood, working together to take on who looked like Gervase.
An evil smirk showed up on Vladimir's face.
"He's coming up."
And with that, any previous signs of lost control were gone. Suddenly, the composer, and almost gentleman like Vladimir had returned. I thought about how composed Aro had been when they were in his court. It must have been a power thing for them.
"Annabelle, be a dear and come here." He said kindly, looking to me as if he had not just beaten me and licked the blood off my face.
"Now." He added more authoritative.
"Alright." I allowed putting my hands up "I'm coming, give me a minute."
Knowing I had no real choice in the matter I took a slow step toward him. Thinking that if I had moved slowly, I could buy some time. I had thought wrong. This time, it was Stefan who had lost his patience as he grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled me, practically throwing me to Vladimir's arms.
Something about knowing Aro would be up any minute gave me some fight. I didn't want him to have to worry about me while also fighting off these two. And I wanted to help, make a dent before Aro came in. Maybe even provide a distraction for him to get an upper hand. With that in mind, and nothing else, I pulled back, Vladimir's hand locked around my left wrist and with one movement swung my right fist as hard as I could, aiming at his jaw.
Within a a millisecond my hand came to an abrupt halt. Not with a chin...but a hand seemingly made of ice cold stone.
"I am surprised at you, Annabelle. You've never tried to hurt me before. Good thing I stopped you because if you would have hit me, your hand would have very easily broken."
"So what?" I snarled at him.
"So." He began sweetly, giving me a kind smile, his red eyes locking in with mine "I don't want to break your hand like that. If you're going to break your hand..." he squeezed my hand within his own, his expression and tone going dark "I'd like the honors."
And with a final bit of effort, his hand tightening, forcing mine to break with a series of cracks.
"Fuck!" I yelled, a serious amount of pain mixing with pure rage and frustration, tears returning to my eyes.
I wanted to quit, to drop to the ground like a toddler and lay there useless. I was in control of NOTHING and not a single thing could bother me more. I couldn't even fight the process without ending up worse than before.
"Annabelle, calm yourself." Vladimir said, his voice caring again, even wrapping me into a hug, holding my head against his chest "It will be over soon enough. Aro will be here and then I will only need to hurt you a few more times before I drink your blood. I may even get clumsy snap your neck. Then you won't be able to feel it."
Conflicting emotions swirled through me like someone was running a mixer through my brain. I pushed back against his chest wanting nothing more than for him to let me go so I could punch him with my other hand. But at the same time...his voice was soothing and something about all of this coming to an end one way or another sounded appealing.
I couldn't remember the last time I had quit on something. The last time I had been so tired of trying, that failing was worth it. And even though a considerable part of me was ready to do just that, another part of me was pissed.
Rage heated my stomach as I thought of it all. The absolute lack of control or consideration or stability I had in all of this. It wasn't my fault someone hit me with their car. I didn't choose to bleed and most certainly didn't make Bella try to eat me. I didn't invite the King of Vampires to meet me or decide I wanted to go to Italy.
I didn't bring the Romanians into the mix, or ask to be introduced. I absolutely didn't want Aro and Jane to leave me and I didn't exactly jump into Vladimir's arms. I didn't start this never ending feud between these two covens. Hell, I wasn't even a vampire!
But here I was being held as bait to lure someone to their death. All the while being broken, kicked, and threatened with no choice in anything. And I hated that. I hated every second of it. And god, I hated Vladimir.
With that in mind, I gritted my teeth and pushed. Hard. Moving my body every which way, anything to gain leverage for even half a second. All I wanted was to get in a punch or a kick or anything.
Instead, Vladimir simply picked me up, his arms wrapped around my shoulders, holding me against him, my angry legs now kicking in the air, my torso still trying to twist loose. He chuckled at this and so did Stefan. But I didn't care. I wanted to kick his ass.
Suddenly though, the laughing stopped and Vladimir dropped me. I landed on the ground with a thud, grunting a little at the pain.
"Aro, happy you could join us." Vladimir greeted, adding a mock bow in for a comedic touch.
I immediately looked up. Through pieces of curly blonde hair I saw him. Aro.
He was standing there with an expression of absolute loathing, disgust etched on every feature, and his eyes...pitch black. A few pieces of hair fell into his face and his black robe in his hand.
"You would be wise, Vladimir, to step away from her this instant." Aro said calmly, but with wielding authority.
His voice was stern and commanding, even I was driven to get up and move. In fact, I began to. That was until Aro spoke again.
"Annabelle, darling. Stay exactly where you are. These vermin are those who must move." Aro spat out the word "vermin" but had otherwise spoken very softly to me.
"Aro, you and I are both aware that I cannot follow that demand." Vladimir half laughed "I mean, I've only managed to get the smallest amount of fun and I am not nearly finished."
At that, Aro took a step forward and quicker than I could even process, Vladimir had pulled me to my feet once again by my hair and Stefan appeared two steps ahead of us, closer to Aro.
"Release her." Aro demanded.
"That was hardly polite, Aro. Have we not always been more formal with one another?" Vladimir taunted.
Again, he pulled my hair, pulling me closer and returning me to my headlock. That movement alone put everyone else to action. With a flash, Aro moved and was stopped a loud, shaking sound like someone dropping a bowling ball following. Stefan stood there his arms locked with Aro's both of them pushing back on one another.
The robe he had worn on the field was now laying in a heap on the ground at his feet and Aro himself looked between Stefan and Vladimir. It was as if he was trying to avoid making eye contact with me.
I fought back tears, trying to stay strong, pushing back against Vladimir though I knew it would do me no good.
"Leave him alone". I growled.
"Hmmmmmm." Vladimir taunted "Stefan, should we leave him alone?"
"What fun is that?" Stefan answered.
With that, Vladimir released me before taking both hands locked together and hitting me on the top of my back. It felt like a ton of bricks falling down on me as I gasped for breath on the ground.
Aro lunged forward. He looked like he was going to tear Vladimir's head off, but instead he collided with Stefan again. I had never seen him fight before, but Stefan was fast.
In what looked like a flurry of movement and heard like the breaking of a dozen marble statues, Stefan and Aro all but danced around one another. Furiously moving and landing blows that would kill and average person.
I had seen Aro angry, once even at me. But now he looked murderous. He was moving with a passion I couldn't understand, like there was no option as far as this fight went. Stefan would lose and that was the end of it.
However, he didn't fight desperately. Instead he moved with skill and authority; a sophistication that made it look easy no matter how much effort he was putting in.
This went on for what seemed only minutes but as I looked over my shoulder at the ground below, things had changed drastically.
Small bonfires were scattered around the field and the majority of those standing were clearly members of the Volturi. It was clear however that wasn't too much of a chore on Vladimir and Stefan's minds. Instead Vladimir stepped over me and joined his partner in his fight. I instantly shot up, wanting to help Aro. To do something for him as he now fought off two of his greatest rivals.
I only barely stayed on my feet for a whole ten seconds before I collapsed. I was dizzy, my hand was black and blue, and my face was swollen and hot. I managed to swallow when suddenly a flash of gold appeared on the balcony. It was Carlisle. My heart skipped to see him hoping that meant an equal fight. But instead he rushed to my side, crouching next to me.
I opened my mouth of object but before I could say anything, the honey haired vampire who had been fighting next to Carlisle appeared. With only a moment of analyzing the situation, he launched himself at Stefan, knocking him to the ground with an earth shattering thud.
"Annabelle, we need to get you to safety. You're very hurt." Carlisle's voice sounded exactly like it had the day I met him. Instead now he was more disheveled and looked horridly guilty.
"Not without Aro." I half pleaded. I had been through hell and all I wanted was Aro by my side when I got out.
But even hell pauses to re-evaluate. The fighting stopped flat. The honey haired vampire and Aro looking ferociously at the two Romanians, Vladimir's eyes locked on Carlisle.
"Carlisle, it would be wise of you and your friend to leave this fight to us." He warned.
Carlisle stood slowly, looking at him peacefully. "Vladimir, look down. You've lost this battle. Stop this, let me take the girl."
"Not a chance. I've been waiting thousands of years for this moment and now I have it."
"You don't." Carlisle corrected "You are outnumbered and you know very well you cannot kill Aro or you would not have taken Annabelle as a distraction. Walk away."
That's when I saw him. Just the top of his dirty blonde hair was showing outside the wooden door trim to the balcony, but I knew it was him. Gervase.
"NO!" I screamed, my voice breaking.
But it was too late.
With a thunderous boom, Gervase had tackled Carlisle to the ground.
Immediately, the younger vampire came to his aid and I was once again trapped in the unforgiving arms of Vladimir.
This time, however Aro did not fight Stefan.
Instead his eyes were on me. I was shaking in pain and in fear, Vladimir holding me this time pulling my head to the side by my hair. My neck exposed.
"One more move." He hissed menacingly "Make one more move and I will drain her. You saw me have a taste earlier Aro, and I know you can smell her now. If you're wondering, she's absolutely delicious. I'm surprised I stopped myself earlier."
With that, Aro looked somehow impossibly became even darker, his eyes narrowing.
"Vladimir, I will bring you a fate worse than death." He hissed before in one sudden movement he turned, grabbing Stefan by the head and mercilessly twisting it off, throwing both pieces of him to the ground as if he were filth.
With a scream of pure rage, Vladimir threw me to the ground, my head landing first with a thud before he stomped on my side, my ribs making a loud and nauseating crack.
The last thing I saw was Aro. Beautiful, dangerous, perfect Aro. His face locked on me, clearly wanting nothing more than to be my side. But as my eyes fluttered he looked up. The last thing I saw was Aro, my Aro. pouncing, colliding with Vladimir and both of them going over the balcony, falling to the ground.
I tried to push myself up, but my arms didn't work. That's when the darkness settled in and I saw and heard nothing at all.
