A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.

Chapter 30-

Demetri's POV-

I couldn't understand what was happening in the castle these days. First, Master Caius had decided to head on an extended vacation, Lady Athenadora accompanied- which in itself was bizarre. In all the centuries that I had lived here, Master Caius had never even suggested leaving the castle for any longer than a few hours, and everyone who was anyone knew that Lady Athenadora wasn't permitted to leave the tower, the thought of her leaving the town in itself unimaginable.

How had Master Aro even agreed to any of this was beyond my abilities of comprehension?

And if that wasn't the limit of unthinkable, Mistress Jane was no longer amongst us. She had taken her own life, jumping into a pit of fire…after she had ended Alec's life. Alec- who was her own blood and closest friend in the world. It was so, so strange to even believe that she had killed him!

And had we not witnessed her doing the deed, I reckon the rest of us would have laughed at such an insane idea, suspecting foul play.

But yes, it was the truth. And Master Aro was devastated. Jane had been like a daughter to him, not to forget the priceless evil twins that they had been. It was a loss the Volturi could hardly recover from, no one unknown to this realization.

In fact, the castle was no longer the fountain of power that it had once been. Most of the servants had been set free, excluding the ones that Master Aro owned, reducing the hubbub that had once cocooned these very walls. These days the castle seemed similar to an abandoned mansion, with less people and more than imaginable empty space. It was suffocating!

Sure, I still had friends in here, Felix the most important of them. But things had certainly changed over the past few weeks. It was as if we now knew that the Volturi wasn't as undefeatable as we had boasted about it to be. In fact, everything and everyone had an expiration date, including us.

With Master Caius gone and Marcus no longer a ruler, the throne room had undoubtedly lost its charm. Master Aro still held weekly meetings in there, but they were just for name, an act of pretension that everyone kept up with. You could see the frustration in Master Aro's eyes whenever he saw the two empty thrones beside his one, the helplessness visible too. Losing Mistress Jane had broken him down, creating a loss that Master Aro seemed incapable of moving on from.

As for me, well, I wasn't as affected as some of the others, but yes, I disliked the gloominess that had come to surround my house, wanting things to go back to how they had been. Call it aggression or call it being powerful, I liked the castle better when the rest of us tortured the rebellious vampires, or simply sat and made plans to attack the covens that weren't cooperating.

There days…it was more of boredom and confusion. No one knew how to react any longer. No one knew what was a crime worth punishment and what wasn't, so much had changed over the past few weeks…the feeling unfamiliar and not worth seeking.

'Demetri.'

I frowned wide, looking all around me. There was no one here; I was alone in these massive corridors, heading towards the training room, the urge to spar and get away with some of the pent-up aggression at the forefront of my mind.

'Demetri.' The voice repeated- which I figured was coming from my own mind. It wasn't me- I could tell that much.

No. This was someone else initiating a conversation with me.

'You are a smart man.'

I listened on, waiting to figure out the point of this conversation.

'You already know that this isn't your inner voice; it would be useless and offensive to attempt to convince you of so. And hence, I will come straight to the point. We are going to attack the castle in less than a week now. Aro will be captured, brutally tortured before we end his miserable life. He totally deserves it, even you know that. Now, we have nothing against you. We don't wish to kill you. But if you decide to stand by Aro, we will have no other choice but to do so. So, we are warning you of this. You have always known when to leave the losing side, this being a heads-up from our side. Walk away now and save your life.'

I frowned to myself, each word of that monologue repeating itself over and over again in my mind.

While I was loyal to the Masters, I wasn't dumb enough to jump into a pit of fire to save their lives. If they had taken a wrong decision, they would have to bear the consequences of it.

And with that one thought affirmed in my mind, I knew exactly what I had to do.

It was time.

I had once before left Amun's coven, refusing to be on the losing side, and now all these centuries later, the clock had taken a full circle.

It was time to start afresh. For, I refused to let myself be killed for the actions of another.

With one last nod of the head, my decision made, I turned in the direction of my bedroom, wanting to leave the castle doors before anyone became any wiser, a grin on my face at the realization that Volturi's only tracker would be leaving through these doors today, the one person in the world who could have found me and forcefully brought me back on Aro's insistence, no longer a puppet to anyone's ridiculous whims and baseless fantasies.

Chelsea's POV-

"Why isn't your power working anymore?"

"Master…I…" I stuttered through my words, shivering at my place in fear and worry. I had no answer to provide, and that was my dilemma. It shouldn't have been possible!

My power always worked.

"How was Demetri able to leave unguarded; the urge to protect the castle and to PROTECT ME should have been so strong as to cripple him at the knees! HOW WAS HE ABLE TO ESCAPE THEN?"

"Master…I…" I was close to tears. I had disappointed my master, and if that was not enough, my life was on line right now.

I would be severely punished; I wasn't naïve enough to not know that.

Though honestly, it had been a while since my power had stopped being as effective. It had started with Marcus, his fake bonds clipping off in mere seconds. I had tried and tried to create them again, but with no use. It was as if he was now immune to my power. It probably had something to do with that temporary mate of his- of course she was temporary- he had kicked her out in literal hours!

Anyhow, she too had been immune to my charms, something I had assumed to be a noteworthy exception, yet not bold enough to accept it in front of Master Aro. I had simply pretended as if everything was alright and my power could never let me down, which for the record it never had before this moment. After Marcus though, it had been Master Caius's turn. He hadn't completely broken off, but I could see the difference there. He wasn't as forcefully loyal to Aro and the Volturi as he had once been. Something had definitely changed.

I hadn't had the time to study Jane and Alec before they were both killed, but I am assuming that whatever witchcraft had affected the others, had to have hit them too.

And now it was Demetri's turn, my neck on line as I was forced into a trial.

"Answer me!" Master Aro growled out, Renata on his left and Felix on his right. I knew why Felix was here; it was a simple enough answer.

"Master…I…" I cried out. I had no answer. I was innocent. I don't know what had happened here.

"Cat got your tongue?" Felix, the snake in disguise, smirked, thoroughly enjoying my misery.

His turn would come too; if I was standing here today, he wasn't too far behind me. It was just a matter of whose time ended first.

"I am so sorry, Master. I honestly don't know how Demetri could escape…"

"That's not the answer I want." Master Aro glared in fury. "I don't care about your baseless apologies. Give me the answer I seek!"

"I don't know, Master." I whispered, staring at the ground in hopelessness and worry.

Why was this happening to me?

What had I done wrong?

This wasn't my fault!

How could my power just push me onto the railway tracks in this manner, an unstoppable train heading my way?

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

Master Aro grinned, nodding his head once, pin drop silence surrounding the room we were in.

"Felix," he further ordered. "I don't need useless people in the guard. Finish her off."

No.

Please no.

"Master Aro…please. Felix…no…"

Nothing I said could change my destiny, my hair roughly pulled from the scalp as I was dragged through the castle door, loud screams emitted out of my mouth, thrown like waste paper in the direction of the blazing fire.

Afton's POV-

Aro was a dead man.

How dare he steal my mate away from me?

How dare he end her life so brutally?

This wasn't over.

Far from it actually.

I wasn't Marcus; Aro wasn't getting away with this.

The actual game had just begun, and now I was going to turn out to be the winner in this game.