As soon as I spotted the lit up London eye in the distance, a grin spread its way across my face and I was so excited that I was considering yeeting myself into the river Thames. Aro read that thought and chuckled endearingly at me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
"You seem excited, piccola," he noted as we walked hand in hand through the slightly emptier streets past shop windows filled with Christmas decorations. Well, he walked, I frolicked with a little too much enthusiasm.
"You could say that," I giggled. "LONDON BABY!" I hollered out onto the empty street.
"Ssh!" Aro hissed, but he couldn't help but laugh along with me. "You watch too much Friends, cara mia."
"I do not." I waved my hand dismissively. "LONDON BABY!" I yelled even louder than last time.
Aro's infectious laughter abruptly ceased without any reason. I opened my mouth to ask him why he'd gone quiet but he quickly turned his head around and pressed his finger to his lips, miming for me to stay silent. The closer I paid attention to what he was listening to, the more I realised that it seemed to be some kind of—Murderer? Rapist?—with their victim in an alleyway.
Without hesitation, I climbed up onto the top of one of the buildings to avoid attracting too much attention to myself and began leaping from roof to roof in the direction of the feminine cries for help. Aro trailed just behind, black cloak billowing behind him.
I stopped at the edge of one of the buildings and crouched to watch what was happening directly below me. The woman was bruised and dirty, her clothes torn, while the man held a knife up to her neck. The blade sank a few millimetres into her soft flesh, and the scent of warm, succulent blood filled my nostrils.
I hadn't realised what I was doing and had lost all control of my actions until I had the man held to me while my teeth ripped into his throat. His groans muffled and died out slowly as the fresh crimson liquid trickled down my throat, sating the hunger that was there before.
Aro held the woman in his arms, grasping her noticeably more delicately and with more care than I was gripping onto the man, while he slowly drained any remaining life out of her.
Once I was finished with the man, I allowed his limp form to drop to the ground and dealt a harsh kick to his repulsive body which caused a few bones to snap, tucking the knife he'd been holding into my back pocket.
"Bellissima, you do not need a knife," Aro said questioningly.
"Oh, you never know when you'll need a knife," I countered, wiggling my butt where the handle of the slightly bloodied knife was sticking out of my pocket.
He clapped his hand over my ass and pushed me along. "Let us keep moving."
"But what about them?" I pointed with my thumb behind us.
"Demetri and Felix will take care of them," he assured. "Now, we must find the other two."
"Where are they then?" I asked.
He sniffed the air. "We agreed to meet at St. James' park. I can detect their scents from here, which would make sense since our destination is only a mere few metres away."
Surely enough, he was right. Marcus' scent of old books and Caius' scent of acrylic paint and firewood could be faintly picked up in the air.
I took in a long, deep breath and smiled contentedly, starting towards the source of the scent. Aro stayed behind and allowed me to lead the way.
It didn't take long at all to reach what I did vaguely recognise as St. James' park. Due to the time of night, there was very little lighting around, only a few street lamps across some of the footpaths.
Near a small clump of trees in the park, my eyes suddenly locked on two all too familiar figures. I bolted towards them as if I hadn't seen them in years, not days, and wrapped my arms tightly around the first person I made contact with.
"Not so tight, tesoro," Marcus choked out.
I scoffed. "Well I'm sorry, but I love you, and I missed you!" My arms only tightened around him and he faintly groaned, holding my head to his chest.
He purred from deep within his throat. "Ti amo."
I felt a second pair of arms wrap around my shoulders from behind me. Caius nuzzled closely to my neck, pressing feather-soft kisses to my skin as his white blonde hair draped over my left shoulder. I spun around in Marcus' grip and placed my arms over Caius' shoulders. My face was pressed up against his shoulder while Marcus continued to hold me to him around my waist.
"I missed you so much," I mumbled and kissed Caius' jaw.
"Ti amo tanto, carissima." He began purring, which caused me to start purring and, before I knew it, all three of us were acting like a bunch of housecats.
"I assume you plan to stand here and cuddle all night?" Aro was standing beside us with his arms crossed.
I turned my head to face him while my cheek was still pressed up against Caius' chest. "Babe, you had my complete undivided attention for almost a week," I reminded him. "There's no need to be stingy."
He sighed in defeat. "That is true. I simply assumed you would want to spend some time in London before we leave, cara mia."
Knowing he was right and that I could always hold them hostage for a cuddle later, I pulled away from Caius first and cupped his cheek delicately with my hand. I began to untangle myself from Marcus' arms but he only stubbornly tightened them around me, holding me as close to him as possible.
I giggled and gently kissed his neck. "Marcus, honey, you can let go now," I reasoned.
Very reluctantly, he placed his arms back by his sides and took a step back. "Where are we going then?" I asked Aro.
We began strolling slowly out of the park. I held Marcus' hand in my right hand while Caius had his arm around my waist on my left. Aro walked ahead a few paces, feeling just slightly dejected. Jane, Alec, Felix, and Demetri were all trailing a few metres behind, chatting away about goodness knows what.
"We can go anywhere you want, bellissima," Aro responded with a warm smile.
"Ooh, so many options," I giggled. "It's near Christmas so quite a few shops should be open. I could drag you lot around shopping!"
Just before I had the chance to say anything more, Aro completely froze in his tracks and Caius and Marcus quickly followed suit. They sniffed the air around us cautiously, their grips around me tightening protectively. I could tell that something was off, something that made them wary for me.
"What is it?" I murmured.
Aro spun on his heel and gazed past us to the four elite guards just behind. "Jane, Alec, Felix, Demetri, you know what to do, dear ones."
With an affirmative nod, the four of them sped off through the street, climbing up to the top of one of the buildings nearby. They jumped between rooftops, barely visible due to their black cloaks.
Aro scaled the building next, then followed by Caius. I let go of Marcus' hand with a tight smile and climbed up to join them, using the slight cracks in the brickwork and the ledges of the windowsills as footholds. I landed gracefully on my feet, and the soft thud beside me told me that Marcus had joined us.
Caius was crouched on the edge of the building, watching the alleyway below. Silently, I sat beside him with my feet dangling off the edge and my fingers entwined with his.
Demetri and Felix quickly descended down to the ground below, face to face with what I assumed to be another vampire. No heartbeat came from him, nor any heat, and his eyes were deep red. Alec's dark mist approached him from the other end of the alleyway where he was stood beside Jane, both of them watching on with smirks on their faces.
The vampire was outnumbered, soon slammed into the brick wall where his body left a large crack in the brickwork on impact. Alec's gift had finally reached him, the ripples of vapour engulfing him quickly, causing him to land in a slumped pile on the ground.
At that moment, Aro and Marcus both leapt down from the rooftop, joined by Caius and then me. I stayed back cautiously as I watched the scene unfold.
Aro held a hand up. "Alec," he chided lightly.
Alec sighed quietly and allowed his mist to recede back into his palms. The three of them strolled through the empty path left in its wake with me just behind them. I moved to stand beside Caius and held his gloved hand tightly.
The man glanced up with fear in his eyes. "I will never go against you," he pleaded.
"Of course not," Aro forced a smile, "my dear Toshiro."
He held his hand out for Toshiro to take but was disappointed when he didn't. Aro took his hand in anyway and encased it in his own. With a deep breath, his gaze fixated into the distance as his eyes glazed over.
"It seems Carlisle is still expecting you," Aro commented calmly.
He placed a hand on the side of his head comfortingly and then spun around on his heel, nodding to Demetri and Felix. Caius tugged me away by my hand and kept me moving forward with a hand on the small of my back so I wouldn't watch.
"Did you just—who was that?" I questioned.
"Toshiro," Aro answered blandly, as if that explained everything.
"Yeah, I gathered that, I'm not deaf, but who is he? One of Carlisle's allies?"
Caius nodded his head. "It is a crime to stand against the Volturi."
"Come, let us not allow this to ruin our evening." Aro's voice brightened up considerably. "We still have until sunrise."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Goddamn it, this chapter is soooo much shorter than I planned it to be ugh. Usually I aim to write about 3000 words per chapter, but this literally only has about 1900.
I didn't necessarily want to leave out details like the whole Toshiro thing, but basically, in this story the Volturi are more reluctant to bring harm to the Cullens, especially considering how much they mean to Eli.
Caius and Marcus are back! Their reunion was so much fun to write, I just love them so fucking much, my babies!
Oh, and I've already planned Chapter 1 of the sequel. Am I getting ahead of myself? I think I am haha.
Also, I have a cast list up for the Ukrainians. It didn't fit on just one cast list because there's a picture limit, so I had to add a part 2.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your thoughts and opinions, stay safe, and ily lots!