I stepped outside into the gardens and inhaled the crisp autumn air. Usually I'd be pretty cold considering the temperature outside, but it was a nice change of pace to not be shivering in my denim jacket.
I would've stayed inside, but the guard had gone a little overboard with Halloween, leaving little pranks and jump scares around like it's April fool's day all over again.
As I mindlessly wandered down the trimmed path with my hands stuffed deep into my pockets, I could hear faint music playing in the distance, but the more I paid attention to it, the louder it was. My curiosity getting the better of me, I quickly sprinted over to the source of the sound.
In a little grassy area near the back of the garden, Renata, Chelsea, and Corin were apparently hula-hooping for some reason. Corin instantly spotted me and beckoned me over excitedly.
"Eli, come join! It's so much fun!" she called as the bright yellow hoop spun around her hips and her blonde ponytail swished around her head.
Vampires.
Renata hastily dropped her hoop and pulled me into her arms. "How are you doing, El? Are you okay? You know, with everything?"
I sighed. "So everyone knows about my mental breakdown yesterday."
There was an awkward pause until Chelsea butted in. "Well we do now."
I rolled my eyes. "Look, I get that you're trying to be nice, I really do, and I appreciate that, but can we just not talk about it? I thought about it for long enough yesterday, and I'd rather not just repeat the exact same thing again today."
Once I'd recovered from my flashback the previous day, I basically spilled out every thought and emotion to my mates at once. Of course, they were being their usual kind and sympathetic selves around me, but I could see the hurt in their eyes with each word I said which only made it worse.
"Of course," Renata let go of me with a sympathetic expression, "just know that we're here for you if you ever need anything."
I half-smiled. "Thanks."
"You know what does help clear the mind? Hula-hooping!" Chelsea yelled.
Renata gave me an apologetic look and handed me a neon pink hula-hoop. "Want to join? It's not as lame and stupid as it sounds, I promise."
"You know what? I seriously used to fear the Volturi and their guard, like every other sane person, yet here you are, listening to…Latin music apparently," I noticed Ricky Martin's voice out of the speaker, "and hula-hooping."
"That's why they fear us," Corin shrugged.
I pulled the hoop over my head and held it around my waist. "But seriously, when I first came here, I expected dungeons and torture chambers and darkness and despair."
Chelsea laughed. "Which is worse; dungeons and torture chambers or hula-hooping?"
"I have no idea at this point," I joked and began spinning it around my waist to the tune. "So, why are we hula-hooping then?"
"Renata's the one with the hula-hooping experience."
"A little lesser known fact about me, I trained with a circus for a few years as a vampire," Renata admitted. "Why do you think I know so much about dance? And hula-hooping?"
"Whoa, you were in the circus?" I asked in disbelief.
"Many many years ago, yes. But only for a few years. Aro was kind enough to allow me a temporary break from the coven, and I took the opportunity to travel and do whatever the hell I felt like doing, which included joining the circus," she told me.
"So people didn't find out about your…disco ball status?"
"Eli, circuses are in tents," she reminded me as if I was dumb.
"Well yeah, no shit, but none of your circus peeps found out?"
"One of them did eventually, another one of the acrobats. I killed them all, as in the entire circus, and left. There are currently no traces of that circus ever existing to this date."
"I feel like I should be a little worried about how casual you're being about…killing an entire circus and destroying all evidence of its existence," I added awkwardly.
"Ç'est la vie," she shrugged. "What's the point of being immortal if you're not going to live your life to the fullest without regrets? We've all done…maybe questionable things in our time, and you probably will at some point too. It's in our nature at this point."
"I killed one of the many heirs of the king of Spain a while back. A pain in the ass he was, and that's coming from the girl who loves everyone she meets," Corin confessed. "I only met him once before and he took me back to his castle and tried to force himself on me. You can imagine how that ended for him."
"Oh geez, Corin I-"
"It's okay, honestly. He didn't get far before I tossed him into a wall and drank him dry. His blood was bitterer than I imagined which was rather disappointing if I'm honest," she seemed genuinely disheartened about that.
"You know how I have the gift of relationship manipulation?" Chelsea began. "Well, I've been working for the Volturi for a few millennia and I'm actually not that much younger than your mates. Maybe half of the guard here are only here because of me, while the other half joined the coven on their own accord. I haven't utilised my gift in a long while because I just hate the thought of forcing relationships against people's will, but many currently would not exist if it wasn't for me."
"I mean, that's not so bad…" I assured.
"I forced relationships against people's will. I don't really know if I should be saying this to you or not, but, without me, the Masters probably wouldn't be as close as they are now. Don't worry," she quickly added, "I haven't used it in centuries so you and your bonds are safe. Besides, the true mate bond can't be edited, not strengthened or weakened manually."
"You used it on my mates?"
"With their consent. It was Aro who requested it, and it was literally ages ago. Oh my, I shouldn't have said anything-"
"Chels, it's fine. If anything, I should thank you since you're the reason my perfect lunatics don't all hate each other's existence," I smiled.
Suddenly, the song switched to 'Believe' by Cher. I looked over to see Corin about to switch the song over to yet another Ricky Martin tune but I managed to quickly stop her before she had the chance to press anything.
"Don't you dare turn off Cher!" I yelled desperately over the blaring music.
"Wow, I didn't realise you're such a Cher fan," Renata teased.
"Cher is a queen, no one turns her off and that's just how it is," I shrugged.
Renata, the apparently professional hula-hooper took the opportunity to show off by performing pretty much every hula-hooping trick under the sun. It's true; it is surprising how much a little activity like hula-hooping with vampires can completely change a person's mood. I'd originally come outside to sulk and sit on my own in silence, but I was oddly enough having a good time.
After maybe an hour or so of constant hula-hooping and gossiping about pretty much everyone in the coven, Corin had to dash back inside since she was needed in the throne room. This just left me, Renata, Chelsea, and deafening Latin music.
"Are we going inside any time soon?" I asked.
The sun was already beginning to set behind the trees, and I'd been moving my hips in circles non-stop for a long time now. If I was human, I would've definitely passed out by this point.
"What's the point in going inside when you can hula?" Renata countered enthusiastically. Where her enthusiasm was coming from, I had not a Scooby-Doo.
"But isn't it getting dark already?"
"You scared of the dark or something?" Chelsea asked tauntingly.
"No, no, well I used to be but that's not my point. It'll just be a little weird if we're out here still moving our hips at 3 in the morning while Ricky Martin provides motivation."
"3 in the morning is prime time for hula-hooping," Renata added sarcastically. "And, if Ricky Martin was here, he would definitely be telling you to stay here and hula through the night with us.
I could hear faint footsteps in the distance, coming from the direction of the castle. Santiago and Afton both suddenly appeared with looks of utter bemusement on their faces.
"What are you lot doing?" Afton asked with his eyebrows drawn together.
I looked down and pretended to be surprised. "Hula-hooping, apparently."
"And why are you hula-hooping when the sun's already gone down?"
Chelsea giggled. "Honey, it's a girl thing, you wouldn't understand."
"Can't say I do," he sighed and sat down on the grass beside Santiago.
Beginning to feel a little awkward at them gawking at their mates while almost drooling, I caught my hula hoop in my hands to stop it. I went to place it back with the other hoops and Chelsea's speaker when a pair of arms flew around me and lifted me up off the ground. I was quickly spun around to face Caius who was smirking at me amusedly.
"Geez, you scared me babe," I giggled.
Caius chuckled and hoisted me up so that my legs were wrapped around his middle and my arms were around his neck. "Why were you hula-hooping, carissima?"
"Their idea," I pointed to the other two girls who had now stopped spinning their hoops and were paying more attention to their mates, "not mine."
He brought his lips to mine, one of his arms snaking around my waist to hold me flush against him. I felt his tongue running along my lips but I broke it off before anything escalated.
"Should we maybe take this somewhere more private?" I suggested.
"Eliana, look around."
To my surprise, the other four people had already scampered off which left just the pair of us and a bunch of hula hoops. I opened my mouth to say "oh" but my sentence was cut off when his lips crashed against mine once more and he rolled onto his back on the grass so that I was on top of him.
After a minute or so, our lips finally separated and I curled up into him with my head tucked under his chin.
"How are you doing today?" he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Considerably better," I responded. "Thank you again, you know, for yesterday. I…it was a lot, actually talking about everything myself for the first time."
He stroked the side of my face with his fingers. "You can always talk to us about anything, carissima. You are our sole priority. But please, do not hide your emotions anymore. Seeing you like that yesterday…"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about-"
"Your apologies are unnecessary. The trauma you endured, no one should have to in their lives. If I had Aro's gift and I was able to see the hurt those disgusting creatures brought upon you, I would not be able to live with myself knowing that I could have prevented it but didn't."
"No, you couldn't have. This was the best way, I promise. I think Aro already knows about this, but I was on the phone to Alice a while ago, and the only reason she sent no warning is because of what would've happened if she did. You did everything you could. The fact that you did that much for me…that's all I need."
"Now I am truly looking forward to executing the scum with you," he chuckled.
I giggled, running my hands through his snowy blonde hair. He purred as I rolled onto my back, still in his arms, staring up at the orange-pink hues of the sky. The remaining sunlight reflected off our skin so that we, again, looked like a bunch of disco balls lying down on the grass.
"I sparkle," I stated.
He laughed. "That you do, but not as much as me."
And it was true. Maybe it was something to do with age, but Caius was somehow a little more sparkly than me. I lifted his arm up and absent-mindedly played with his hand before interlocking my fingers with his.
"Do you think things will get any easier from here?" I glanced up into his crimson eyes.
He inhaled sharply. "I have learnt not to keep my hopes up. But regardless, we will make it through, just one day at a time."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Damn it, I need friends who are supportive like this and will hula-hoop with me all night haha. This chapter kinda seems pointless but I basically wanted to explore the characters of her guard friends a little more. The whole Renata circus thing came to me in a dream and just made sense for some reason, don't question it.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!