The pair of us took our time to climb the long staircase, which was when the anxiety began to set in. There was no turning back now, we'd come all this way.
"There is no need to be nervous," Aro assured.
"How did you know I was nervous?" I asked cautiously.
"Because I know you, bellissima, better than anyone else. It does not take much for me to recognise that you are feeling anxious. What are you worried about?" I extended my hand out to him but he shook his head. "Tell me verbally. I prefer hearing things from you directly."
I stared at the ground for a moment, trying to figure out how to translate my thoughts into sensible words that didn't make me sound stupid. "Do…do the Hamamatsus know about…polyamory still isn't exactly the most tolerated thing in society."
"Ah, that is what you are worried about." He paused at the top of the next flight of stairs and pulled me into his arms tightly. "Yes, they know of whom you are to us, but this is more than just any simple relationship, rather a true mate bond. Three true mate bonds, to be precise. The true mate bond is highly respected by us immortals, so there will be no judgement," he promised, kissing the top of my head.
He turned around and knocked on the door beside us. That was when I realised that we were already at the top of the staircase, a very long staircase at that.
The sound of a lock and chain moving was closely followed by the creaking of the door opening. In the doorway stood a man, about Aro's height, but his skin was ever so slightly less pale and he seemed a little less built. His short white hair shone in the sunlight beginning to stream through the window, making it look almost translucent.
Aro smiled at him. "Ah, Tobias, wonderful to see you again."
"You too, Aro," he replied with an American accent, shaking his outstretched hand, "and this must be Eliana. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," I smiled shyly.
Tobias stood to the side with the door open. "Do come in. Please excuse the mess, Lillie had yet another school project to complete."
Honestly, I had no idea what mess he could be referring to. The very fine glitter pieces in parts of the carpet, maybe, but the apartment was magnificent. I would go as far to say it looked better than the Cullens' place.
The living room we stepped into looked like a billionaire's home, the glass back wall leading out onto a balcony. Most of the furniture was glass, and I was almost worried I'd break something in there if I dared to touch anything. We were led past a smaller dining area up a few stairs to where the long white sofa was, with a glass coffee table in the middle.
The woman sitting closest to us on the sofa quickly stood up and dashed around to greet us. "Aro, my lovely, it's wonderful to have you back."
"It is a pleasure to be here, my dear." Aro responded with a smile.
She cheerily cheek kissed him and then turned her attention to me. "And you must be the new queen we have heard so much about. It is lovely to meet you Eliana, I am Clementine." She extended her hand out.
I shook her hand with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."
Aro undersold how gorgeous Clementine truly was. She was tall, maybe 5'7", in her early twenties, with small pale features and long curly brown hair which fell in tight ringlets down her back. Like us, her eyes were a deep set crimson colour. She wore a tight-fitted pink plaid mini dress with a long-sleeved white top underneath it.
She didn't let go of my hand, instead happily pulling me over to the sofa. "Come and meet the others. Tobias you have already met." Tobias inclined his head. "Then we have Ethan, Freddie, and Lillie."
Ethan was of Asian descent, with short black hair but skin slightly less pale than Clementine's. He smiled at me warmly and extended his hand out. "It's lovely to have you here."
"Thank you, this place is amazing by the way." I took his hand and shook it.
"It was Freddie who chose it." Ethan pointed to the dark-skinned boy in the corner beside him.
Freddie didn't say anything, only glanced up quickly and shot me a timid smile before looking back down at his lap again shyly. His hair was the kind of hair you wanted to randomly run your hands through, in tight little black curls on the top of his head.
Aro sat down first and then tugged me down to sit next to him, placing an arm around my shoulders. I leant into him a little but I was still slightly on edge, especially considering how out of place I felt with the ridiculously expensive-looking apartment.
The girl in the corner, presumably 15 or 16 years old, I assumed was Lillie. Her long blonde hair was braided all the way down her back and she was very openly judging me, looking me up and down like a piece of trash. So that's what Aro meant.
She eyed my lace-up black boots intently. "What's with the boots? You emo or something?"
Clementine whipped her head around to face her and glared at her. "Lillie, what did we say about being polite to our guests?" she hissed almost silently.
"Oh yeah I'm emo, just left my eyeliner and black lipstick at home," I snarked back.
Lillie snorted with laughter and clasped a hand over her mouth. Clementine still looked unimpressed with her, but now I could see what Aro meant by her being 'discourteous'.
Clementine glanced back at us as if nothing happened and bounced a little on the sofa, clapping her hands on her thighs. "So, what do we owe this pleasure? Anything in particular?"
"I wish I could say this was a friendly visit, but some rather worrying events have come up," Aro began. "The Cullens, one of the most powerful covens in our world, have been accused of the creation of an immortal child by Irina Denali."
Everyone's faces turned to that of shock and horror, their jaws dropping which left their mouths in a distinct 'O' shape. I didn't blame them to be honest, I reacted the same way myself.
"As you know," Aro continued, "this is a serious offence that has been committed, a matter we will not take lightly. There is to be a trial on December 31st, approximately two weeks from now, in Forks, Washington, USA, very near to their permanent residence. We ask you to bear witness to the events, to this act of justice against Carlisle and his coven."
The news seemed to be sinking in for them now as they nodded their heads in understanding. Clementine was the first one to finally speak, glancing back up at us.
"We will stand with you," she agreed. "I was never a fan of Carlisle and his coven. It seems unnatural, his diet, and his unnecessary pride, the passive-aggression to those who do not follow it or agree with his views on our being, I do not condone. His 'children' on the few occasions I met them were rather rude and dismissive after seeing the colour of my eyes. Their pride has clearly gotten to their heads."
The others nodded in agreement, sitting up straighter. Well, at least we had the first few allies on our side. Regardless, their straight-up Cullen bashing was making me feel just a little bit uncomfortable.
"What does further complicate things is that this is Eliana's family. Carlisle considers her a daughter of sorts, the children her siblings," Aro explained.
I gazed at the floor timidly, feeling like a right idiot now. What did catch me out by surprise was when Clementine reached out for my hand and held it in hers comfortingly.
"I know this must be difficult, watching your family go through something like this. I would never have guessed you're a Cullen though. You don't follow the animal blood diet? Does Carlisle know?"
I shook my head. "No, he doesn't know, but they completely ghosted me in anyway, soooo…"
"Brutal," Lillie whispered in the background.
"I'm morally against it, actually. Animal populations are dwindling, humans are overpopulated. It's basic math." I shrugged.
"That's exactly what I said," Tobias chimed in proudly.
"Well," Aro clapped his hands and sat up straight with me still leaning against his shoulder, "it is wonderful that we were able to come to an agreement so quickly, Clementine. Again, I would like to thank you for your loyalty. Your coven is always welcome in Volterra."
"Of course, we do value the Volturi very closely as allies," she smiled warmly. I wasn't sure why, but there was this constant warm and comforting motherly energy coming off of her, a slight variation of Esme's, and I loved it. "Did you two need anything else at all? How long will you be staying with us for?"
"Only until tonight. We will leave at twilight. Next, we visit Ukraine, Andrey's coven." He grinned excitedly.
"Ah, send Andrey and Nadiya my regards," she laughed. "If you need a room, you know where the guest room is."
"Thank you, we will change our clothing briskly if that is quite alright with you."
Aro took my hand and led me down one of the halls. Out of a door on the left, Demetri appeared, handing Aro the black duffel bag. After thanking him, he gestured me through to another room on the right and closed the door behind me.
I gasped at the room in front of us. The walls were a pristine white, and there were ceiling to floor windows at the end with the curtains drawn closed so that we didn't sparkle constantly like disco balls. It felt like I'd just walked into a room in a 5-star hotel, with a king-sized bed covered in grey cushions in the middle.
He laughed at my reaction and set the bag down on the edge of the bed. "We were the ones who paid for this property for the coven, but I must say that Freddie did make a rather excellent choice in choosing it."
"Are these walls soundproof?" I asked.
"Even more so than at the castle, cara mia. They can hear nothing of our conversation unless their ears are pressed directly to the door."
I pulled a t-shirt and jeans out of the bag and set them down on the bed. "We should really get better soundproofing. I've heard things I…wish I could un-hear, from the guard quarters." I cringed as the memory replayed itself in my head.
"We used to have a rule against sexual relations between guards within the castle walls," he tossed his coat to the side and began to unbutton his shirt, "but many were caught sneaking around regardless, so that defeated the point."
I pulled off my top and threw it to the side. "The fact that even my pillow-talk could be heard by both you and Marcus says enough."
Before I knew it, Aro's lips were on mine, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me flush against him. I almost moaned into the kiss as his tongue traced my bottom lip but I pulled away quickly before things got out of hand.
"You are easily distracted, aren't you?" I teased, smoothing his cheekbone with my thumb.
"When you stand in front of me looking like a goddess, yes, yes I am," he admitted and shoved his button-up shirt into the bag messily.
Once we were finally dressed after almost getting…distracted a few times, we were sat in the luxurious kitchen of the apartment with mugs of warm blood. The only person absent was Lillie, but apparently that was because she had some school assignment to do over winter break. Oh yeah, and Lillie apparently went to a high school in Hamamatsu, wearing blue contacts and refusing to make friends.
Tobias stood up to throw the empty bags of blood we'd used into the bin. "You use blood bags?" I asked.
"Usually we feed directly by hunting on the outskirts of Hamamatsu, but it is always good to have alternatives stocked up," he replied.
"So, you are really true mated to this crazy one," Clementine pointed to Aro, "Caius, and Marcus?"
I inhaled deeply and nodded. "I can barely believe it either honestly. Especially considering how this one was plotting to kill me when we first met," I giggled.
"I would never dream of it," he protested, entwining his fingers around mine.
She raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to kill her? Oh, Aro." She shook her head light-heartedly.
"It was before the mating bond was formed. She arrived with Bella Swan, Edward Cullen's mate, and they were both liabilities in their human form," he argued.
"I assume you transformed her?" she asked.
He sighed and took another sip of his blood. I knew the subject of the Romanians and what they did to me was one of few things that made my mates feel anxious, so I moved closer to him and purred in his ear to relieve some of the tension. All four of the Hamamatsus in the room shot up suddenly at the sound, studying us carefully.
"Did you make that noise?" Ethan asked.
"Oh yeah, another thing, we purr to calm each other down or in contentment with each other," I grinned proudly. "It's a true mate thing apparently, and it only works on them."
"Congratulations on finding each other by the way." Clementine smiled. "And if this one or his brothers give you any problems in the future, any at all, you come directly to me and I will personally come and set them straight. Okay?"
I giggled. "I'll keep you on speed dial—I'm joking, babe, I'm just teasing," I added when Aro frowned at me.
"You lot are so lucky to have each other," she admired.
Aro glanced down at me and smiled warmly, a sweet glint in his eyes. "We are incredibly lucky to have her."
Finally, the sun was down and it was twilight once more. Felix and Demetri had already started ahead of us after staying with the five Hamamatsu guards all day.
Clementine wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "Travel safe, and remember that our door is always open for you lot."
"Will do, stay safe," I called behind me and waved as I stepped out into the hall.
Aro followed me out next and took my hand. "We will see you in a week."
I drew my eyebrows together. "A week?"
They all laughed at me and my stupidity, which only made me want to climb into a hole of embarrassment and regret and never come out.
"Yes, a week. In two weeks is the confrontation, cara mia," Aro reminded me.
"…oh, yeah, that." I glanced down at my feet sheepishly.
"Goodbye, enjoy Ukraine!" Clementine yelled down the stairs as we dashed down quickly, appearing at the bottom in a few seconds.
We strolled back out of the lobby into the street once more, which was noticeably busier than before. We'd applied our contacts before leaving, so at least our eye colour wasn't going to be an issue.
"They were nice," I said after walking along the street for a while in silence.
"I did say that the Hamamatsu coven is rather lovely company to have," he responded quietly. "Such a friendly group of immortals they are."
We began to approach the train station, return tickets in hand. "What about the Ukrainians then? What are they like?"
"They are equally lovely, we choose our allies well," he replied.
The train journey back to Niigata passed pretty quickly, probably because I spent the entire time yet again cuddling Aro. And, yet again, we were faced with a few days of travelling, back across to our end of the world, illegally crossing border after border and running through the middle of nowhere. Fun times.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Wham-bam, their first allies. Clementine was so lovely to write and I love her honestly (can I love my own character? Sure, why not?), and Lillie is such a bitch, gotta love that.
Yeah, I redid the calculations and everything, and apparently 80km/h is the speed at which you can run on water, and vampires travel at almost double that, soooo…yeah.
Also, I updated the cast list to include the cast for the Hamamatsu coven as well, so if you're curious, it's all on there. If I end up doing a casting for the Ukrainians as well, I'm going to need a cast list part two on here as well haha.
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!