"It's been longer than 15 minutes and she's not responded," Caius paced the library, "Something's happened. We were foolish to let her go alone". Marcus and Aro chose wisely not to respond. Their brother had been highly strung ever since their mate had travelled to Forks and every hour she was away from the safety of the coven, Caius had grown more and more restless. His already short temper was fast wearing thin. Marcus and Aro watched as Caius dialled their mate's number once again.
No answer.
Caius roared in frustration and threw the phone against the wall. The mobile exploded into several pieces when it made contact with the wall.
"FELIX!" Caius bellowed. Felix suddenly appeared in the room and quickly placed another mobile on the table before he scattered from sight. Marcus, foreseeing that Caius' short temper could be an issue, had alerted their trusted guard Felix to have a stack of mobiles on standby. While Felix was honoured by this level of trust, a small part of him also feared this responsibility. Caius was temperamental at the best of times and with the absence of his mate, no one was safe from his anger. Something Felix was very determined not to be on the receiving end of. Whenever his name was called, he would enter and leave as fast as possible to avoid any of Caius' anger falling onto him.
Caius dialled her number again.
No answer.
"Fuck!" Caius swore and crushed the phone in his hand, "What the fuck is she doing?". The shattered phone pieces fell to the ground.
"FELIX!" Caius bellowed once more.
'For the love of blood! Please bloody answer Charlotte,' Felix thought to himself as he quickly entered, placed a new phone down and bolted from the library. This process continued several more times with Caius calling or texting their mate but still no reply. Marcus' mobile suddenly pinged. Caius' attention whipped towards his brother. Marcus calmly pulled his mobile out and read the text message.
"Lottie apologises for the lack of communication but the mission was a success. She's on her way home," Marcus said.
"How wonderful!" Aro beamed, "See Caius? There was no need to worry at all. You must have more faith brother".
Caius scoffed at Marcus and quickly texted Lottie about the talk they were going to have when she returned, "Of course she would text you. She knew you would let her off easily".
"Or she knew that whatever she said to you would be met by fury," Marcus replied swiftly.
Caius sneered at Marcus but didn't deny his accusation.
I smiled softly at Aro and swirled my glass of blood, "What was your favourite decade?".
Aro hummed as he thought of the answer to my question, "Not so much a decade but the Renaissance period was a favourite of mine. The years 1500 to 1530 particularly as it was during this time where the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael were crafted. I have never seen such a period of creation and growth for humanity and I have yet to see it again".
"Did you ever meet them?" I asked in curiosity.
"I believe it's my turn," Aro teased, "What did you want to do after you graduated high school?".
I took a sip of the blood in the wine glass, "I wanted to be a pastry chef. I had dreams of working in the world's best dessert restaurants before returning to America and opening my own bakery. Before I became a vampire, I found out that I had been accepted into America's most elite culinary school".
"A pastry chef?" Aro mused over this information, "Considering how much you have been baking currently, that should really come at no surprise".
Aro and I continued our game of twenty questions and I knew I had to ask the burning question on my mind. Ever since my chat with Marcus yesterday about Didyme, a horrible thought had occurred to me.
Did Aro have something to do with his sister's death?
I knew Aro was unhealthierly motivated by power and I was doing my best to loosen his power lust. It was only after reflecting on what Marcus had told me that a disturbing picture was easily crafted in my mind. Marcus had a unique power, the Volturi was still fully forming, Aro had granted the two permission to leave and suddenly Didyme was murdered and the killers were never brought to justice? Especially with Aro's mind reading power? Dread filled my being as part of me was becoming more convinced that Aro might have had something to do with his sister's death.
'It's now or never,' I thought.
"What happened to your sister?" I asked quietly, "Marcus said she was murdered by an enemy coven and the killers were never bought to justice".
Aro's face filled with sadness, "It is true my little swan. My dear sister was murdered by an unknown enemy and despite the coven's best efforts, we never found the vampire or vampires who committed such a horrible act".
'He's a brilliant actor I'll give him that,' I thought.
"Even with your power to read minds? You never came across anyone?" I asked carefully. Aro stared at me. His gaze unblinking. His red eyes burned into mine. If I wasn't his mate, I had no doubt I would have been killed for my question.
"She was murdered by an enemy and despite our best efforts, her murder or murderers were never caught," he repeated, his gaze never leaving mine. I didn't immediately respond as I knew I had to trend very carefully about my next question.
I nervously licked my lips, a human trait of mine that I had yet to completely rid myself of, "Was this enemy her own brother?". I struggled to register what happened next. I suddenly found myself slammed against the wall with Aro's hand wrapped tightly around my throat. His speed so quick that it reminded me of a newborn vampire. Despite my inner beast wanting to lash out and defend myself, I forced myself to remain calm. Clinging to the hope that as his mate, Aro would not hurt me.
"Careful with your accusations Charlotte," Aro whispered softly. It was so quiet that it made me second guess whether I had truly heard it. Aro's red eyes continued to drill into my own but I refused to back down. I was no stranger to Aro's obsession with power but it was only now that I could truly see how much he was influenced by it. I could practically see his inner beast coming to life behind his eyes and for a split second, I began to doubt whether I was indeed safe from Aro's wrath – to him, I was a threat to the power he had spent centuries building. One word to Marcus and everything would be destroyed. Whether Marcus had thought Aro was involved in Didyme's death was besides the point. Marcus had already spent years with the Volturi. If I shared my theory with Marcus, it would re-open old wounds and I have no doubt that no matter how much it would hurt me, Marcus would demand justice and as such, Aro's death.
"Aro," I rasped out, his tight grip around my neck made it hard to speak, "Be honest with me. What we say will be kept amongst us".
My mate didn't say anything nor did he loosen his grip. His red eyes pierced mine. I closed my eyes and lowered my shield, giving him access to my thoughts. I was doing everything I could to prove to him that I would not betray his trust in me but I knew he had something to do with his sister's demise. I could never truly be his mate unless I knew all the skeletons in his closet.
"Mio salvatore," I begged once more.
It felt like hours had passed before he spoke.
"I didn't want to but Marcus' power was too valuable to the coven. The coven was still so new and his power was invaluable against the enemies we were to face," Aro confessed quietly, "He and Didyme wanted to be free of the coven…without Didyme, Marcus would have no reason to leave".
I dared not interrupt. Aro seemed to be in almost a trance like state and I feared any questions would break him from whatever state of mind he was in.
"It was so easy," He stated, "Didyme had no idea. I slaughtered her and she never saw it coming. Staging the scene to make it look like an intruder and convincing Marcus it was an enemy was even easier. You have to understand Charlotte, I did it for the sake of the coven. To keep the coven strong". His grip around my throat started to loosen.
I slowly bought my hands up and cupped Aro's face, "My role as your mate is not to judge you Aro. However, this blind obsession you have with power must stop…don't make me fear being with you".
My words seemed to snap him out of his trance, "I would never hurt you my little swan".
"And yet your hand is wrapped around my throat," I shot back. Aro ripped his hand away from my throat as if he had been burned and stepped out of my hold. He looked down at his hand in horror at what he had done.
"Aro," I began as he looked at me, "From now on, any decisions that are made in relation to the coven must be decided upon by all of us. You, myself, Marcus and Caius. We will act as the voice of reason and further strengthen the coven without making decisions of madness. I refuse to let you become your own worst enemy and let everything you sacrificed to get here go to waste".
Aro studied me, "You really won't tell Marcus will you?". He wanted to confirm my earlier thoughts that I would not share whatever he told me with the others. I raised my shields once more.
"And what good would that do? Marcus has already accepted that he will never know who killed Didyme. He even suspects that you may have already dealt with her murderer but refused to tell him as he thinks you have broken laws to do so. Telling him, as hard as it will be to keep this a secret, would destroy us and everything," I explained. Aro stepped towards me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me tight to his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and returned his embrace.
He rested his head on my shoulder, "You are too good for me Lottie". This would be the dirty secret that Aro and I shared. I would never tell Caius or Marcus. This piece of information would be something I would take to my grave. While Marcus did deserve to know the truth, this information would rip him apart and I fear cause damage beyond repair between my mates. It was incredibly selfish what I was doing but to keep us strong, I was being exactly like Aro. Keep the secret in order to get my way of living happily with my mates.
"But Aro," I began before I roughly pulled myself from his hug and slammed him against the very wall I had been slammed against with my hand wrapped around his throat, "If you ever lay a hand on me again, it will be the last thing you ever do". I squeezed his throat and watched as cracks started to appear, re-enforcing the fact that I was not kidding. Aro didn't put up a fight, I could see the regret in his eyes. I withdrew my hand and Aro once again wrapped his arms around me.
His lips crashed against mine before he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, "I am so sorry Lottie. I can assure you this will never happen again. I love you my little swan".
"I love you too mio salvatore," I kissed him softly.
When Aro and I caught up with Caius and Marcus later that evening, the two would have never guessed what just transpired between myself and Aro. We acted as we always did and no one would have guessed that I had just discovered a secret that would have destroyed everything. It was in that moment that I truly understood why Aro and I were mates. While everything he had previously done was for the sake of the coven and for him to maintain power, everything I did was for the sake of my mates and for me to maintain my relationships with them.
Aro killed his sister to maintain power, I hid his secret to maintain peace.
To say it had been a couple of hard months for Charlie was an understatement. Especially with Christmas being a matter of days away, Charlie was becoming more and more aware of the emptiness in his heart. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen and just stared at the tidy space. Unlike Bella, Lottie always came to visit for Christmas. While it drove her mother mad, Lottie refused to let him spend Christmas alone. Even when he was sometimes out on patrol a majority of the day, she would have a feast ready for him when he returned. This Christmas was going to be very different. It had only been in the last few days that Charlie had started to really feel the impact of the loss of Lottie. He had been spending every free moment with Renesmee and Bella. That recently had to stop though. He knew there was something strange about his daughter and granddaughter but chose to ignore it. After all, it wasn't too long ago that the kid he knew since he was in diapers suddenly turned into a BIG dog. If Charlie was being completely honest, he really didn't want to know what was really going on. Bella had said that it wasn't safe for him to visit them but she and the family would be there for Christmas.
"Charlie?" Sue wrapped her arms around him, "Is everything okay?". Charlie grunted softly in reply.
Sue chuckled, "Was that grunt a yes or a no? I haven't worked out how to speak Charlie yet".
The home phone started ringing.
"I'll get it," Sue said before she pressed a kiss to Charlie's cheek. She released him from her hug and wondered down the hallway to answer the phone. Charlie tuned out the conversation as he once again became lost in his thoughts over Lottie's absence.
'The kitchen is way too clean', he thought, 'Lottie always left a mess even when she wasn't cooking'.
"Charlie," Sue called out from the hallway, "I think you should take this". Charlie was shaken from his thoughts and quickly pulled himself together before he walked into the hallway to Sue.
"It's someone calling about Lottie," she whispered to him as she passed him the phone.
Charlie nodded in thanks and took the phone from her, "This is Charlie Swan".
"Hello Mr Swan," a bubbly voice chirped from the other end, "This is Rowena MacLeod calling from Crowley's American Kitchen Elite School. I was hoping to speak to Miss Charlotte Swan. She received an offer to attend our school and we haven't heard a reply from her. The selection board were very impressed with her cooking abilities and we would be honoured to have such a wonderful talent attend. We tried contacting her mobile but couldn't get a hold of her. She had this number as an alternative contact".
Charlie swore he stopped breathing as his heart sunk when he heard the news. Crowley's American Kitchen Elite School or the more ridiculous name of CAKE it was known by was the culinary school Lottie had her heart on attending. He knew she was devastated after being rejected twice but somehow, she would always seem more determined to bake better in order to be accepted. His kid had done it, she had finally been accepted into the school of her dreams.
'I didn't even know she had applied,' he thought guiltily.
"Um," Charlie cleared his throat as his eyes started to burn with unshed tears, "Unfortunately my daughter passed away in a car accident a few months ago".
"I'm so sorry!" the lady on the phone panicked, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for your loss!".
"It's okay," Charlie assured the lady, "You didn't know". Sue hugged him from behind in support as she overheard the conversation.
"Still Mr Swan, my sincerest apologies for your loss," the lady once again said. They spoke for a few more minutes before Charlie hung the phone up.
"I'm so sorry Charlie," Sue whispered after the conversation ended.
Charlie wrapped his arms around her, "Lottie had been trying to get into that cooking school for ages. I'm so bloody proud of her. I just wish she was here to actually go and live out her dream. It's not fair".
"I know," Sue squeezed him tightly as she comforted him, "It's not fair at all. She was a beautiful soul that was taken far too soon".
"I just miss her so much," Charlie whispered as tears finally started to fall from his eyes, "We spent every Christmas together. She refused to let me spend it by myself despite how many times I told her I was fine and how mad it made her mum. I once worked all Christmas and when I came home in the early hours of boxing day morning, she had stayed awake and had a massive feast ready to go".
"Oh Charlie," Sue didn't know what to say to comfort him. While losing her husband had been horrible, Sue couldn't even begin to imagine her life without her children.
"Even when she wasn't cooking, the kitchen was an absolute mess. You would think that by being a baker she would have taken pride in having a clean kitchen. Not Lottie. It was always a mess. I always use to joke that after Christmas, I would clean the kitchen and it would remain untouched until she came back next time," Charlie cleared his throat and wiped the tears away, "Christmas this year is definitely not going to be the same".
Hello everyone!
Thank you as always for your support! It honestly means the world to me and I can't thank you enough!
This chapter is certainly much shorter than my previous chapters but it's laying the foundation for what happens next…that and I also love Charlie. Particularly with Christmas happening soon in the timeline, I thought it would be a unique opportunity to tie up the cooking school part that was mentioned earlier in the story.
Just a quick update for yourselves as well, you can except an update every 7 to 10 days. With the COVID restrictions starting to ease, my workload has started to increase. As such, I don't have as much time as I would like to write so the updates will take a fraction longer.
Once again, thank you for your support!
Stay safe xxx
