Dear reader.
You are insane.
In ten days, 10 DAYS, you guys gave my fanfiction:
5000+ views; 100 followers; 60+ reviews and 45+ favorites.
Not only that, but your reactions are hilarious, and so satisfying to read. Thank you so much for this amazing support, and please, keep reading!
Special Thanks to :
Kouga's_older_woman : for being the first to comment on the very first day I published this fiction and never missing an update ever since
Moondancer1818 , .7334 , MyEyesareWatchingEveryone : for commenting so often and keeping me aware that you're waiting for more!
WhiteLunaNight : for always leaving an entire paragraph of hype, which is just raw fuel at this point for me 3
nerdicornvixen : for making me spit my latte when I heard about your fangirling to your husband -bless him – about a twilight fanfiction. Please keep this energy I love it.
GeezerWench : for recently joining the show. I live for your witty unimpressed comments, you are hilarious, please keep them coming. And you're right, poor Susan, who knows what she's thinking? And look: now you know who Timothée Chalamet is.
I wrote this chapter while listening to "dark academia music to write to"
It works wonder.
Chapter 10: Volcano
Someone hurt my baby.
The statement was ridiculous, completely inappropriate and utterly inaccurate. Yet, when Caius hung the receiver on its base, no other sentence could fully describe how he felt. Someone had hurt his baby. The Child was crying, she was crying and he wasn't there, and now the only feeling stronger than his helplessness, was this question stuck in his mind:
Who had hurt her?
Somewhere in the depth of his immortal soul, something started to boil. Not like water, ready to evaporate in hot steam, no. Not like water. Like magma. Magma in the pit of a volcano, magma waking up. Slowly...so slowly.
He was the Mount Vesuvius, and Pompeii's citizen had better run. When they still could.
"Guards" Caius called.
Two of the many figures hidden in light grey cloaks behind the hall's pillars stepped out of their stillness and walked toward him. "Masters."
"Call Demetri. Tell him I will see him in my study. Now"
The two figures bowed slightly and disappeared from his sight.
It was only when Marcus laid a hand on his shoulder that he realized every single muscle on his body was clenched stiff. "Brother…" Marcus said "Talk to me."
Caius straightened himself to face him, and his agony was reflected in his brother's burgundy eyes. "The child...Young Isabella...Something happened."
Marcus's dark brows furrowed with concern "I will walk you to your study, Caius, and you will tell me everything".
xXx
By the time they arrived to Caius private office, Demetri was already there, standing at attention in his dark grey cloak in front of the mahogany desk covered with books and scrolls. He greeted them with a stiff bow. "Masters."
"Demetri," Caius said "I need you to track the Olympic coven. Take Afton with you, and stay hidden. I want a full report on their current locations and activities, as well as a detailed summary of the events of the past twelve months regarding them.
"They have the seer." Marcus reminded him "She will see them coming."
"Have Jane and Alec come with you, then. Be prepared to interrogate them if necessary. But if possible, stay under their seer's radar. This is not an intervention. Yet."
Marcus raised his eyebrows at him so high that they went to hid behind his curls. Demetri bowed again and left swiftly.
"Yet? Do you mean to say there might be an intervention?"
Caius paced with long strides around in desk.
"I do not know yet. Everything will depend of how...how grave the offense was."
"You mean, because of their revealing their true nature to the young Isabella?"
"Not only that but...Something wasn't right, Marcus, I could feel it in her voice when she mentioned that coven. Something happened."
She had admitted that there was a long story, and if seemed to be a painful one, but she was also protecting them. Protecting them from him.
Carlisle told me one thing, and I remember another
Knowing Carlisle, all self-righteousness and vegetarian, he could only imagine the horror he might have told her about his brothers and him. Of course, none of those things would be lies. And yet here she was, "I want to come home" and all. She had known what they were, what he was, and yet her despair was such that she was begging to come home to him.
"We need to create an application for her to enroll at the University of Pisa as one of our scholarship students." They had personally founded the institute in the mid-1300s, and it had regularity provided a status for people staying at the fortress throughout the years. "Also, a way for her to finish her high school credits here as well."
Marcus nodded and they started clearing space on the desk to start, so that they could send the paperwork first thing in the morning. "At some point, it will be good to inform Aro." Marcus started. "If a human is going to stay at Volterra, he has a right to know."
They exchanged a long look. "I don't need his permission. Plus, Aro already knows Bella. He's obsessed by the fact that he can't read her."
"All the more reason to tell him. If you intend for her to remain human" Marcus pointed out. "If that's even possible."
Caius head shot up to meet his gaze "What do you mean?"
Marcus threw a dubious glance at him "You know very well what I mean. Twelve years ago, young Isabella's mortality was protected by the Children Protection Act, which combines the ancient decree forbidding the creation of Immortal Children, and the more recent law you had implemented twenty years ago forbidding the harvesting or hunting of humans children under the age of 12. "
Caius's jaw clenched, remembering the incident that had led to that law. Athenodora, that newborn… her skull cracking in his hands. If he had to point the moment when the changed first occurred in him, it would be that specific second when the child had stopped crying.
Well aware of the pain the memory had caused him, Marcus went on:
"Young Lady Bella is 18now. By law she falls under the category of Human Liability. Which mean that…"
" I know what it means, Marcus." Caius interrupted him, as he knew how painful it would be for him to hear the rest of the sentence. She was to be killed or turned. But would Bella accept the Gift? Would she see it as a blessing, or as a curse?
She was already in so much pain, her voice had told him so. How could he add any to that?
The very fact that she was remembering him meant that something wasn't right. If she had been leading a perfect human life, those memories would have remained hidden in the subconscious box Dolores had manufactured inside her mind.
He still remembered that day, when everything changed. That creeping and unavoidable doom he had anticipated without ever really accepting. The day she would see.
xXx
She was trashing and kicking around, screaming in hysteric sobs, but he was holding her firmly, hugging the little girl close. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Bella. Child. I'm so very sorry"
"LIAR" she yelled
"Yes," he said, his eyes shut in agony "Yes I lied. I'm sorry. I didn't want you do know. I kept that from you."
"YOU TRICKED ME" she cried from the top of her lungs, fighting his embrace.
"I did" he moaned "I did, yes. I did. I'm sorry, Piccola. I'm so so very sorry."
"I HATE YOU!" she shrieked so loud her voice broke in a fit of coughs and sobs.
He would have shed tears of blood that day, had he been able to.
Dear reader.
Do you hate me very much for this ending?
See you tomorrow.