Chelsea sat in one of the plush armchairs opposite my desk while we decorated the small desk Christmas tree in my office. Technically, it was Christmas Eve, but the castle was disappointingly much less festive than I was originally hoping for.
She placed the final glittery red and silver bauble on the tree and shuffled back into her chair to admire her handiwork. "Not bad, not bad at all," she mused.
I bent over to where the lights were plugged into the wall. "One last finishing touch."
With a click, the multicoloured Christmas lights glowed across the tree, and Chelsea let out an ear-splitting excited squeal of approval. I was maybe slightly homesick since I was so far away from my family at Christmas, but having a mini Christmas tree did make things just a bit easier to deal with, as strange as that sounded.
"This looks so pretty." She stared at the tree in awe, the lights leaving a little glimmer in her crimson eyes. "So, what do humans do at Christmas then?"
I gasped in horror. "You've never celebrated Christmas?"
She shook her head. "We did have something similar a long time ago, Saturnalia, which honours the agricultural god Saturn."
"What did you do then?" I asked.
"Feasting, gift-giving, many celebrations and parties. It has been a long time since we celebrated that, may centuries have passed since our last Saturnalia ball."
I frowned. "Aw, that's tragic," I said teasingly. "Well, humans give each other gifts, decorate trees like this, bake gingerbread men, give gifts to each other, eat Christmas dinner, go to Christmas parties, listen to Christmas music, and kiss under the mistletoe."
"What did you eat at Christmas dinner?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Usually turkey, but I guess the meat doesn't matter, potatoes, vegetables, gravy—oh, and Christmas pudding, but it's vile though. I had to spit mine out into a tissue while my great aunt wasn't looking one year."
Someone knocked on the door, and Renata poked her head around the doorway. "Hey Eli, Chels, nice tree by the way. The Ukrainians have arrived, they're waiting in the garage. The kings still aren't down there, you might want to hurry up and greet them."
I groaned and threw my black cloak over my shoulders along with my Volturi crest and the silver pearl bracelet Aro had given me for my birthday. "Why don't people tell me these things?"
Renata crossed her arms and watched. "I'm telling you now. Come on, let's go."
"I'm hurrying, bye Chels," I called as I followed Renata back out into the corridor.
What did help the whole Christmas vibe was the candle lighting everywhere in the castle. Somehow, it made the whole place feel just a little homelier and warmer, especially while it was still freezing outside. No, vampires aren't directly affected by temperature, but in general we do prefer warmer conditions.
Once we got down to the garages, I noticed there were two black Range Rovers already parked, which I was certain weren't ours. The Volturi guard seemed to be mingling with some other guards in grey cloaks, who I assumed to be the Ukrainian guards.
Andrey approached me first. "Ah, Eliana." He held my hands in his while his sentence was interrupted by two "mwah" sounds as he kissed my cheeks. "Wonderful to see you again, a week has been simply too long."
"I know right? Way too long," I giggled as Nadiya shook my hand and did the same to me.
"So, where are Aro, Caius and Marcus then?" Nadiya asked.
"Eh, probably still upstairs doing their hair and makeup, you know how they are," I responded, my tone laced with sarcasm. Sofia, who had been typing away on her phone, glanced up at me and snorted a laugh.
I paused and looked upwards at the high concrete ceiling as the sound of three sets of footsteps came down the stone staircase. "Speak of the devil."
Aro, Caius, and Marcus all appeared from the stairwell in their regular sharp suits, Aro with his hair straightened, and their black cloaks billowing behind them with their every movement.
"Ah, Andrey, Nadia, it is lovely to have you back in Volterra after such a long time." Aro greeted both of them similarly to how they'd greeted me. "I trust you had a pleasant trip?"
"Yes thank you, it is very kind of you to allow us to visit," Andrey answered politely.
"Friends such as yourselves are always welcome," Marcus replied with a smile, shaking each of their hands, followed by Caius.
They all seemed slightly shocked at Marcus' sudden outgoing personality and the fact that he was no longer a shell of a being. "Marcus, it is wonderful to hear from you again after so long."
Marcus nodded, tugging me closer to him. "Much has changed around here in such a short space of time."
The conversation was interrupted when two sleek black BMWs rolled in through one of the darkened tunnels into the garage, parking beside the Ukrainians' cars. The doors instantly opened and the Hamamatsus climbed out of one car while who I assumed to be their own guard climbed out of the other.
As soon as Lillie stepped out from the backseat with a straw cup of blood in her hand, she ran to Sofia and they both hugged as if they hadn't seen each other in years. They probably hadn't seen each other in years to be fair.
The rest of the coven came over to say hi, and before I knew it, it was like some kind of crazy family gathering with everyone chatting and joking between each other, and exchanging cheek kisses and embraces. If anyone else were to watch this scene, they would never guess that these covens had arrived to witness a serious legal trial that could end in execution.
Just when I thought it was over, one more car, a black Volvo, drove in and grinded to a halt beside the Hamamatsus cars. A couple climbed out, a dark skinned male and a female with curly brown hair. They strolled over to the group, apparently already familiar with everyone except me.
The male extended his hand out and shook mine firmly. "You must be Eliana. I'm Henri, this is Yvette," he motioned to the woman beside him who raised her hand in a slight wave, "we are the French coven."
"Lovely to meet you, hi." I loosely hugged Yvette and stepped back as everyone caught up and bantered about events that probably occurred before I was even born.
Eventually, once everyone was finished catching up, Aro led the way back upstairs as each of the guards were assigned a small group of 2 or 3 people to lead to their designated guest room.
Just as I was walking up the stairs pretty slowly, Caius wrapped his arms around me from behind and discretely slapped my ass. I squeaked quietly as he tugged me into the next door we walked past on one of the lower floors and closed the door behind us, leaving us completely alone together in an empty, dark corridor.
I giggled as we sneaked around like schoolchildren. "Caius, what are you-"
My sentence was cut off when his lips crashed against mine and he pushed me up against the nearest wall. I ran my hands along his broad shoulders and down his taut chest, admiring his perfect muscles, which earned a faint groan.
He finally pulled his lips away from mine but instead rubbed his nose along my jaw line and sucked against the tender section of skin on my neck, causing a moan to escape my lips.
I glanced at the empty space around us. "C-Caius, what even is this floor?" I asked him, his attentions to my neck making it difficult to speak coherently.
He stepped back with a smirk and opened one of the doors in the corridor, leading us into a dark, currently unused bedroom. As soon as he closed the door behind us, his lips were back on mine as he pushed me back into the mattress and began tearing off his and my clothes, any reservations from before long gone.
Once Caius and I had finally pulled ourselves away from each other's grasps again with much reluctancy and taken a shower to clean ourselves up again, we headed back into Aro's quarters where everyone was gathered around the living room area.
When we got there, everyone was already settled around all the sofas and armchairs. The main source of light in the room was the fire crackling away in the fireplace, and a new addition of a tall green Christmas tree sat proudly beside the TV, lights and all.
There wasn't much space left to sit, and most people were standing or leaning against the back of the sofa in anyway, but Freddie, the shy boy from Hamamatsu, shuffled up and offered me a small space on the end of one of the sofas. I sat down beside him with a smile.
"Um, hi," he began quietly, "I'm…uh, pretty—no, you're pretty—no, that's not what I—no you're pretty, you're definitely pretty, oh, um…I'm Freddie."
I ignored Marcus' almost silent growl and smiled at Freddie. It was sweet how flustered he was getting, since I wasn't really used to having that much male attention usually. "Hi, I'm Eli, it's nice to meet you"
"Ah, Caius, brother, where were you both?" Aro asked Caius. "We were wondering when you would decide to grace us with your presence."
"Oh, we were in my office-"
His sentence was interrupted when Aro grasped onto his hand, his eyes glazing over. Caius and I both exchanged the same 'oh shit' look just as Aro abruptly let go again and his gaze flickered between us. I felt a powerful wave of both jealousy and longing from his end of the bond. And this, children, is why we don't give Aro our hands.
Aro must've also heard my few words exchanged with my apparent new admirer, Freddie, since he approached him and held out his hand expectantly. Freddie's expression suddenly turned very guilty, but I quickly leapt in before they had the chance to make contact and placed my hand over Aro's.
'Don't beat him up over whatever you see, he's just an innocent boy with a crush on me for some reason,' I thought to him. He nodded his head in understanding and grasped Freddie's hand, encasing it in his own.
I watched his expressions change so quickly that I could barely keep up myself. Once he was finally finished, he pulled away with a light chuckle.
"Oh, Freddie," he breathed, ruffling his curly hair condescendingly and gliding back across the room again.
It was awkwardly silent between us both for a moment. "Well, that could've gone worse."
That evening, when everyone was completely settled in their respective rooms, I laid back on the bed in Aro's now empty quarters. It was so quiet and peaceful, which was something I did enjoy a lot. It gave me a chance to daydream, replaying my own thoughts in my head.
That day began replaying itself, Chelsea and I decorating the tree, the other covens arriving. The French coven were nice people, admittedly, friendlier than I expected. They were all friendlier than I'd expected. Then my thoughts trailed off to my time with Caius later, the way his hands moved all over my body, the way he-
My phone began buzzing on the bedside table, face down so I couldn't even check the caller ID without getting up. I groaned and picked it up exasperatedly. Seeing as it was an unknown number and I didn't want to risk the Cullens yet again attempting to make contact with me, I declined the call and placed my phone back down on the table.
Except I didn't. The phone wouldn't budge off my hand.
I shook my hand to try and fling it off, and even resorted to yanking it straight off my hand, again to no avail. Examining the nonexistent gap between the metal and my palm by sniff-testing it, I realised that someone had decided to superglue my phone to my hand.
Well shit.
What gets off superglue? Oh yeah, nail polish remover.
I decided I didn't want everyone knowing my phone was superglued to my hand. Imagine how much of an idiot I'd seem to be if that's what everyone saw. But seriously, it was stuck. Like, stuck stuck.
Beginning my quest to secretly hunt for nail polish remover, I went straight to Aro's office to see if he had any. Just as I thought that my evening couldn't get much worse than this, Aro was sat in his office at his desk, flipping though some book written in Greek. He glanced up at me with a warm smile.
"Il mio amore, do come in." He motioned for me to join him but I stopped just in front of the door.
"Um…do you know where the nail polish remover is?" I asked, trying to seem as casual as possible.
He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "You do not have nail polish on. Why do you need nail polish remover?" I didn't respond which only made him pry further. "You know I don't like it when you keep secrets from me, piccola."
I groaned and whacked my head against the wall. "Why do you have to be so observant all the goddamn time? Fine, my phone is superglued to my hand," I confessed. I could've sworn I heard children giggling in the distance.
He beckoned me towards him and took my hand with the phone as soon as I was within reach, tugging me over onto the chair on his lap. "Oh, cara mia, such a silly little thing you are," he cooed, tapping my nose lightly.
I rolled my eyes. "Are you gonna help me or what?"
His eyes seemed to glaze over yet again as he read my recent thoughts and, when he snapped out again, a grin spread across his face. "I believe I know who is responsible for this."
He stood up, pushing me off his lap in the process, and led me back into the candle lit corridor. If I was still human and could blush, I would've gone every possible shade of red at this point.
"Who?" I asked.
He only glanced down at me for a split second. "Sofia, Lillie, Andrey, Clementine, may I see you all in my office?" he called into the corridor.
The four of them all appeared within the next three seconds. Andrey and Clementine both just seemed confused, while Sofia and Lillie snickered at me beside them. Oh.
Embarrassedly, I shuffled further behind Aro, bracing myself for the wave of humiliation.
"What is the matter, Aro?" Clementine asked.
"The matter concerns both of your daughters and my mate, who unfortunately fell victim to one of their little pranks." Aro grasped my arm and lifted it up to show them my superglued hand. I assumed they would laugh, but instead they glared at the teens beside us.
"Lillie, Sofia, why would you do that?" Andrey chided.
Sofia shrugged nonchalantly. "It was funny."
"No, it was not funny, you two seem to be the only ones who find humour in this practical joke of yours. It was mean, unkind, and inconsiderate," Clementine scolded them. "Now, apologise to poor Eliana."
Lillie sighed. "Sorry," she muttered.
There was a long pause. "Sofia," Andrey warned.
Sofia exhaled deeply, not a single inch of guilt reaching her face. "Sorry," she mumbled.
From down the corridor, Marcus appeared with a few cotton buds and a bottle of nail polish remover. I could see how hard he was resisting the urge to laugh and make fun of me, instead taking my hand and leading me back towards his quarters.
Behind us, I heard Jane and Alec joining the conversation just as the adults left.
"You both got so busted, nice try," Alec laughed.
"You've got to be sneakier than that to get past Aro," Jane advised them.
I heard one of them sigh. "Why does he have to know everything? And why does that girl, Eliana, have to show him everything?" Lillie grumbled.
"Just spitballing here, but because they're mates?"
The conversation abruptly stopped when Marcus closed the door behind us. He sat me down on his lap on the sofa and dipped the first cotton bud in nail polish remover.
"Why?" he asked plainly.
I paused for a moment. "I just wanted to check my phone."
Marcus erupted with laughter and pressed a kiss to my temple. "How do you get yourself into these kinds of situations, tesoro?"
My head fell back against his chest as he began to pry the phone off my hand with the nail polish remover. He tenderly grasped my fingers with excessive care, probably taking much longer than he needed to.
"I don't know." I frowned. "I was too busy daydreaming about…"
"Caius?" he finished with a chuckle. "I can still smell him all over you, bellissima."
"…oh," was all I said.
My hand was finally free of the phone and he placed it down on the coffee table. "You never fail to amuse me," he laughed.
I pushed my bottom lip outwards in a pout. "That's mean."
Staring at my lips, his eyes turned dark just as his lips collided with mine. My hand entangled itself in his long hair while his hands seemed to freely roam my body.
I pulled away for a moment. "I'm just waiting until the point where Aro invites himself in. You should've seen his jealousy earlier," I giggled, pausing when I heard the door open and then close behind us.
"No, I always wait for an invitation, cara mia," Aro murmured huskily against my neck.
I raised an eyebrow and glanced up at him. "And now?"
"Would you like me to leave?" he asked, his arms wrapping themselves around me and caging my body against his. "Because I certainly don't think you would, my sweet Eliana."
I opened my mouth to say something, only for Marcus to capture my lips while Aro held me back against him, slowly tearing my dress and all other clothing away from my body. And just like that, that day had become the most eventful Christmas Eve I'd ever been lucky enough to experience.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Eheh, plenty of lime in this one, whoops. I lowkey did want to write in all the smut etc. but I felt like it would ruin the vibe of this chapter so I left it out. Use your imaginations instead…
Also, Freddie has a crush on Eli haha. Obviously I'm not going anywhere with that, and Freddie is not gonna be the bad guy in this, he already feels guilty about it. But I'm still gonna make it awkward, obviously hah.
And did I make Sofia and Lillie too mean? Because eventually I want there to be a friendship between them and Eli, but I sort of wanted to start off with them just being arrogant bitches who strive to be just like Jane and Alec.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your opinions, stay safe, and ily lots!