AN: I do not own the Twi world or characters, obviously. Thanks to SM for letting us play with them.
Thank you to my lovely beta and all you readers, reviewers, and messagers! :) Enjoy!
1665, JANUARY - THE VICTORIOUS RETURN
Caius swaggered into the throne room, his entourage of guards piling in behind him, each dragging a captured vampire or two. This was Caius' biggest haul in a long time and he was buzzing! The rogue coven, or rather ... collection of covens, that had joined forces in order to overthrow the Volturi, had been hunted and decimated. The ones being crudely dragged into the throne room now were the leaders of those treacherous covens.
Aro smiled to his coven mate, impressed with his find. He looked through the assembling guard and sought out his own two sons, who had accompanied Caius on his mission. Felix, with his excessive strength, proudly and easily had three vampires under control. He looked okay, a few scuffs on his face and his tunic top was torn at his chest, but okay. Demetri looked worse for wear. Demetri was a skilled fighter, all Volturi guard were, but he was smaller than most full guard members. He was only fourteen, after all. He was holding his left arm closely across his chest. He looked a mess.
As she didn't want Demetri to go in the first place, Sulpicia was going to have something to say about this. 'He's far too young, and you are not even going to be there with him, Aro,' she had said to him. But, knowing the boy would not want to be left behind, Aro had argued his case, "Felix will be there, and I'll talk to Caius, he needs Demetri - there isn't a better tracker in the world than Demetri and this is what he trains for, my queen".
Yes, Sulpicia will have much to say, Aro thought, however she hasn't said more than two words to me in the month they have been gone ... and they weren't nice words. But, right now he was just glad to see they had returned.
Catching Demetri's eye, Aro crooked his finger at his boy and beckoned him over. Demetri approached the throne steps, walking slowly and with a limp. Aro could see he was trying to hold it together.
"Come up here," Aro called quietly.
Demetri made his way to his father. Aro could hear Caius addressing the captives and the guards, but paid little attention to them right now. Taking the boy's damaged arm in his hands and manipulating it slowly, Aro heard his son hiss.
"You're hurt?" Aro spoke softly. As Demetri only just heard him, the rest of the room certainly couldn't.
"I'm fine, really." Demetri lied.
"What have you been told about lying to me?" Aro questioned with a smile.
"Okay, I can't move my arm, and my chest really hurts."
Aro could see the boy's chest had a gaping wound that had been leaking blood - his black guard tunic was sodden with it. Aro looked him up and down, "and your leg?"
"Just a scratch."
Aro watched his boy. He toyed with the idea of sending him back to their quarters, but knew Demetri wouldn't want to leave before things were finished with these rogue vampires.
"Okay, sit here." Aro stood and placed Demetri in his own throne.
Demetri was so shocked he didn't say anything - no one sits in these thrones other than the masters of the Volturi, a guard has never sat in these chairs! Then it really dawned on Demetri. Everything Aro had said over the last year, they weren't just guards anymore, they were Aro's sons.
A few guards caught this gesture and began discussing Demetri's elevated status again. They could discuss what they liked for all Aro cared about them.
Caius looked over to the focus of the gossip, "He deserves that seat, Aro. We wouldn't have found them without him, he truly is a gifted boy!" Caius gleamed at Demetri, who nodded back awkwardly in reply.
Aro smiled at him, too. Demetri felt pretty proud of himself. He quite enjoyed the attention of the other guards too ... and he knew the news of him sitting in Aro's throne would spread around Volterra quicker than fire. Felix is going to flip at this, he thought playfully.
Aro leaned over his son, placing a hand on each side of the throne arm rests. Demetri was pinned in place. "Did you behave?"
Demetri looked a little panicked now.
Well, that's not a good sign, Aro thought.
"I did." The boy finally answered.
"You did ... but Felix did not?" Aro replied.
Demetri cast his eyes down into his lap. That answered Aro's question.
Aro walked around the guards and assessed their captives.
"So Caius, what do we know?" he asked his coven mate. "Is it who were thought?" Aro's questions were guarded, he didn't know the gifts these vampires possessed and he wouldn't risk his thoughts being accessed without his say so.
"We found 15 covens linked together at that cesspit where they were hiding ... ""
"WE WERE NOT HIDING FROM SCUM VOLTURI!" The vampire leader, already missing a leg & at the feet of Alexander, a lower ranking guard, roared at Caius' insult. He swiped at the guards around him. Alexander held him by his arms, which were crossed at his back. He raised his foot high and stomped down on the vampire's remaining leg, snapping it in two. Alexander smiled contentedly at the roar of pain his actions elicited.
"I can see you trained this one, Caius." Aro gestured toward Alexander. Caius joined Aro in light laughter, which seemed totally mismatched with the tension of the room.
Alexander wasn't sure if their laughter was a good thing or not but Caius winked at the young man when he saw the guy's agitation, immediately setting him at ease.
"Brother, you called for me?" Eleazar entered the throne room with Jane and Alec close behind. He knew Aro wanted him to divulge the gifts of these rogues. Before he had chance to speak another word, one of the vampires Felix was managing erupted into laughter.
"They call us unlawful, they call us rogues, and THEY have immortal children in their ranks!"
The vampire broke free from Felix who, due to the fact that he was holding two other vampires in his hands, couldn't defend himself against the outspoken vampire who aggressively clawed at his face.
Before anyone could react, and before even Aro could make it to his son's aid, the outspoken rogue dropped to his knees and shrieked in pain. Felix fell backwards and dropped the two vampires he was holding as they, too, fell to the floor and writhed in agony. The other captured vampires looked around for the source of their comrades' suffering. They looked to Eleazar, he stood smiling at the scene. Not at the suffering, that he didn't enjoy no matter how necessary, but at the bewildered look of these rogues who thought he was the source of pain.
Jane stepped forward, her eyes were fixed on the vampires held within her gift. As she walked towards them, she spoke dangerously and seemed far older than her young years.
"I am not an immortal child. I am a powerful vampire. My brother and I were changed when we were twelve, which is the legal age for turning a vampire from a human, as enforced by the Volturi."
She dropped the vampires from her burning. They lay on the floor, exhausted, but looked at this child with amazement.
"And as you are the ones screaming at my feet, you should be careful how you address me in future!" she added with a breezy voice, quite in the manner of her father.
Aro held out a hand and Jane happily took it, standing by his side.
Eleazar had made his way through the vampires in the room by the time Jane had finished her display. None of them had a gift of any remarkable note. A few with overly heightened natural vampiric ability, such as speed or strength, but nothing to match the Volturi's current resources.
"There's no one of use to you here, brother," he called to Aro, and turning to Caius added, "well done Caius, Basileus will be overjoyed. I assume the Romanians were at the heart of this?"
"You assume correctly, Eleazar," Caius replied, "though those slippery bastards, Stefan and Vladimir, were nowhere to be seen. They skulk in the shadows and play these fools like puppets - and the puppets love them for it! Damn ingrates!"
This time none of the rogues commented. They were quickly learning that they couldn't fuck around in this castle.
Aro walked over to the vampire that had attacked Felix. Well, he may not have attacked him, but he tried to, and there was no way Aro was ignoring that, though he was proud of his girl intercepting on her brother's behalf. Aro knelt down to the rogue vampire and gripped his head tightly in his hands. Aro whispered quietly in his ear, "No one touches my son." He pulled back just in time to see the vampire realize he was going to die, and then ripped his head off. Aro stood up and threw the decapitated head over his shoulder and into the middle of the throne room. As he dusted himself off, he winked at Felix, who smiled in response. Don't smile too much just yet, son, I need to find out what you have been up to first, Aro thought as he made his way to Caius.
Pulling his brother in close, he whispered in his ear, "I'm relieved to see our whole guard returned brother. Did any of them give you any trouble?"
Caius understood what Aro was asking. Had he disciplined his precious princes?
"Antonio and Felix got into it, luckily before we arrived at the lair. I had to punish them both, Aro. I couldn't not."
Aro nodded, "I understand, Caius. What did you do?"
"Well I couldn't rip a limb off Antonio and not Felix,"
Aro felt his body stiffen and he held the breath caught in his throat, "so…" he prompted.
"So," Caius replied, "I gave them both a good hiding where they stood in the middle of all the other guards. Safe to say they were thoroughly humiliated and behaved for the rest of the mission ... though I intend to speak with Antonio now that we are back."
Caius and Aro looked over to Antonio, who was looking anywhere other than at the masters of the coven. He knew defiance on a mission would be brought up once they were back in Volterra. Felix looked just as skittish now that Aro had spoken to Caius.
"I will 'speak' with Felix too. Thank you, brother." Aro patted Caius' shoulder and then went to look around the rogues.
"What shall we do with the rest, Caius? Shall we end them now, or would you like to have them for a while?" Aro asked Caius, knowing what his coven mate would say before he finished his sentence.
"I will take them down to the dungeons, Aro. Let's see if we can extract any information from them before we finish them off!"
Aro simply nodded his approval and Caius started to lead the guards out of the room.
Felix went to scoop up the two vampires at his feet.
"No! You are done on this mission, Felix."
A few trailing guard's heads shot around at Aro's words.
"What! Why?" Felix responding so forcefully to a master had the guards stop dead in their tracks. "They are mine, I captured them, I'm taking them down!" Felix was full of bravado, he had earned it, he fought deftly in the brief battle and single handedly brought down the three vampires he'd dragged into the throne room.
Aware of Felix's rising emotions, and of the scene he was creating, Aro looked back to the four guards loitering to watch the display as their own rogues struggled in their grasps. They didn't look capable of taking two more. Damn it, Felix, he thought to himself. Aro took the closest vampire and tore his head clean off. Moving to the second, he did the same. Aro looked back to Felix, and fixing him with a stare that made the boys venom run cold, he gestured to the vampires, "Now they are dead, so no need to take them anywhere." Turning on his heel he called over his shoulder, "Come!"
Felix wanted to resist, he wanted to follow Caius down to the dungeons and then to the guard hall where the rest of the mission crew would celebrate their victories. He knew better though. Aro clearly wouldn't allow any of that. He stormed past Aro who was helping Demetri to his feet, he pushed past Eleazar and the twins, fuck pushing El was a bad move, knocking Alec into the wall, shit, I didn't mean to do that either! He kept storming anyway. Reaching their quarters, Felix slammed the door so hard behind him that the heavy oak splintered and fell from the hinges. Fuck fuck! He didn't mean to do that either, but he was too far gone now - he was pissed! Aro had totally stolen his thunder, he'd ripped it away from Felix as easily as he'd ripped the heads off those vampires.
Sulpicia had been waiting in the main room for her family to return. Hearing the earth shattering thud of their strong defensive door scared her - and the look on Felix's face hardly set her worries at ease! Not that he talked to her, he walked straight past her, blatantly ignoring her questions and headed for the terrace.
Felix paced back and forth across the terrace. Why the fuck couldn't I go! If this is the joy of being his son, he can stick it! I don't mean that, I just want him to let go of the reins a little. Aro forgets I'm a grown man, he sees me as a child. That doesn't even make sense! I am twice the size of half the guard, and I am the strongest of them all! But I'm not old enough to celebrate at the end of a mission? How does that even work? Aro keeps lumping me into the same category as the twins! Demetri may need that sort of care, I do-fucking-not! Felix thought back to his very early days with the Volturi. His newborn year should have been spent in the dungeons and training with the other newborns, but Aro had pulled him out on his first day in Volterra and he'd mostly trained the boy himself.
Has he ever allowed me to go with the rest of the guard? Felix thought hard. He remembered a few times where he had gone along to the guard hall celebrations, but Aro had also been there on those occasions. Yeah, and taken me home at bed time for fuck sake! The bruin thought moodily. Even in the great hall celebrations where the whole coven is invited, I'm kept on a short leash. Even the fucking newborns get pissed and I have to sit on the sidelines hoping Eleazar will pass me a few glasses of wine. It's not fair! It's embarrassing! It was true, at the big bashes where the full coven was invited to celebrate, Felix and Demetri were allowed to mingle with the guards but both were regularly called back to Aro for one thing or another - he kept a very close eye on them.
There was always a lot of alcohol at the guard parties, and even more at the celebrations thrown by the masters, but Felix had only managed to get drunk a handful of times since he'd been turned. Yeah, and Aro had gone ballistic every time, he remembered. 'You put yourself at risk if you can't protect yourself, and you can't protect yourself if you are intoxicated!' That's what Aro had said, every time, as he beat my ass! He has never said why, though! Why is it okay for him, for the whole of the fucking guard, but not me or Demetri? We work as hard as everybody else! Well, most of the time!
Felix booted the terrace wall in frustration, but he didn't stop there, he kept kicking and punching until the terrace wall had reduced from waist height to a level floor of rubble! When he ran out of wall to smash Felix realized what he had done. Fuck! Sinking into the floor, venom tears spilled over his eyes as he heard their quarters fill with the rest of his family.