I was sat in front of my mirror in an oversized jumper and shorts, flicking through all the songs that had been already added to my new iPod the kings got me. Funnily enough, it was all exactly the same as I'd had it before, all the playlists identical, the only exception being the absence of the song 'My Neck, My Back'. Shame really, that song was really good to dance to as well.
I'd arrived back at the castle with Aro only an hour earlier, and almost immediately he had to drop me off at my door and leave to catch up on some paperwork. A member of the guard would poke their head around the door now and again, just to check if I was still alive and all, but other than that it was relatively peaceful around here. I stood up to tie my hair up in a quick ponytail, before lying back on the soft white fur rug that covered the floor and playing through my music.
While rolling around and happily belting out the lyrics to 'Pon de Replay', a knock sounded on the door. I reached over and paused the song, waiting to see if it was Jane and Alec, who pretty much always just let themselves in, but instead nothing happened. Rolling my eyes, I crawled to my feet and opened the door, to be met by a woman with long blonde hair, naturally blonde unlike mine, and deep red eyes. Her skin was porcelain white, and her lips were a gorgeous rosy red colour.
"Can I help you?" I asked, looking down at my trashy-looking outfit.
"Hey, I don't think we've met yet. I'm Corin, I work in the guard here" she smiled, extending a hand which I shook hesitantly.
"Eliana" I smiled.
"I know who you are," she giggled, "I was sent to fetch you by Caius"
"Caius?"
"Yes, he's over in his wing, now let's go" she said, and instantly headed down the corridor.
"Um, Corin?"
"Yes?" she turned to face me.
"Don't I have time to change or something?" I really didn't like the thought of wearing something I'd wear to bed to go and meet with someone. She glanced at her wrist watch and looked up at me.
"No, unfortunately you're already running three minutes late"
"Mhm," I crossed my arms, "and whose fault is that then?"
"Okay I'll admit, that's my bad, but it would be better if we're not any later than we already are"
I began to follow her, tiptoeing barefoot along the stone floor, until I felt arms under my knees and arms, lifting me off the ground.
"This should save some time, I hope you don't mind" she added, to which I raised my arms in exasperation.
"I honestly don't care at this point" I replied, closing my eyes as I felt the fast rush of air blow over me, which ended quickly as I was placed down in front of a door which looked similar to mine. To be honest, everywhere here looked exactly the same to me.
She tapped her knuckles lightly on the door before disappearing, leaving me standing there alone awkwardly, shifting my weight between my right and left leg. It didn't take long for the door to be opened, as Caius stood in the doorway. He was at least 5 inches taller than me, the top few buttons of his shirt undone and his sleeves rolled up just past his elbows.
"I thought you would never arrive" he remarked, glancing at the clock by the door.
"Sorry about that, Corin's just kind of slow and-"
"I was just teasing carissima, please do come in" he attempted to smile, moving to the side so that I could step past him.
His room was about the same size as mine, but with a desk littered with papers and books, and in the corner of the room sat a TV with a small loveseat sofa. What did confuse me was the fact that he also had a bed in the middle of the room as I thought vampires didn't sleep, but then again, who's to say that bed was necessarily for sleeping.
I paced over to the sofa and sat down with my legs curled underneath me, Caius settling down on the other end so as to give me some personal space, which I appreciated.
"What did you want to do?" he asked, his left leg rested over his right as he turned to me.
"I'm not bothered; did you have anything in mind?"
He hummed for a second in thought.
"We could watch a movie. The DVD cabinet is below the TV" he responded, pointing to a small black cabinet. I scrambled off the sofa and onto the floor, opening the door and running my fingers along the expansive collection of DVDs he had. There had to be at least a hundred or so movies here.
"Do you watch TV a lot?" I turned my head to him.
"Not usually, as you can see from my lacking collection of films" he replied. He was joking, right?
Eventually I stopped at a DVD that was all too familiar. I used to watch it all the time which drove my friends crazy, so it had to be perfect for this moment.
"I've found the perfect movie for us to watch, I just know it" I smiled smugly, turning round to show Caius 'The Cat in the Hat'.
He stared at me for a moment with his mouth open in absolute bewilderment. "No."
"Please?" I pretended to frown and crawled over to him, clutching the DVD close to me.
"Why on earth would you want to watch that pathetic little film?" he scoffed as his head tipped back and hit the accent pillow behind him.
"One; it has Mike Myers. Two; it has Mike Myers dressed as a giant fury cat. Do I really need to say more?" I was so determined to convince him at this point, "Please, Caius? I'll temporarily promote you as my 'favourite mate'?" I jokingly pleaded.
He looked up at me and his crimson eyes fixed on mine.
"You have a favourite out of us? And that favourite was not me?" he raised his eyebrow.
I sighed and shrunk my shoulders, "No I don't, I just really wanted to watch The Cat in the Hat."
"Okay, fine," Caius took a sharp intake of breath, "we can watch The Cat in the Hat if that really makes you happy. Just remember, I will not forget about this" he warned. Right, because he was going to use us watching this movie against me.
I crawled back over to the TV and put in the DVD, before turning around and resuming my previous position on the sofa, pulling my jumper sleeves down to keep my hands warm. I sat comfortably for the first half of the movie, making a comment about Sally and Conrad having a striking resemblance to Jane and Alec, which Caius seemed to also see. Funnily enough, he only seemed to chuckle at all during the innuendoes and dirty jokes. It's really fascinating to see just how much you can learn about a person, or vampire, simply from their sense of humour.
After a while I began to fidget out of boredom and decided to look over Caius' shoulder. He had a pencil in one hand and a sketchbook open on his lap, his attention switching between the TV and the page he was on.
"What 'cha doing?"
He looked over to me and smirked before diverting his eyes back to his page. "Just a few sketches"
I shuffled closer to him, my head peering over his arm like a little meerkat, to see that he'd been editing a rather impressive sketch of the Cat.
"I didn't know you do art!" I gasped. The detail on it was honestly incredible, and Caius seemed pretty proud of himself now that I'd mentioned it.
"I am a vampire who's been around for over three thousand years. What else do you think I do with my spare time?" he remarked playfully.
"I don't know, suck people's blood, sleep in a coffin all day, turn into a bat, I'm just spitballing here" I shrugged.
He rolled his eyes and continued, carefully adding each individual wisp of hair onto the page. I leaned on his arm, still observing him intently.
"I wish I was good at art" I muttered almost silently to myself.
"I'm sure you are not that bad" he smiled comfortingly. Goddamn vampire hearing.
"Oh yeah?" I challenged, "Watch this"
I pried his pencil out of his grip and nudged his arm out of the way so that I had a clear view of the sketchbook in front of me. Grabbing the corner of another page and pulling it towards me, I doodled a tiny stick man, the kind I would do at the back of my textbooks at school. I even drew a little arrow and gave it a label: 'Eli's shit attempt at art, by Eli', before passing the pencil back to him.
"You're welcome. You'd better treasure that forever" I grinned as he flipped back to the page I'd drawn on and chuckled.
During the course of the rest of the movie, I hadn't even noticed that I'd positioned myself so that I was curled into his side, my head rested on his surprisingly comfortable shoulder while his head leant on top of mine. At first I was about to pull away and sit up, feeling a little uneasy about how close together we were, but being around him made me feel…safe somehow, like all the world's problems meant nothing in that moment, like he was the only one who mattered.
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My eyes wearily fluttered open as my brain still began to wake up and process my surroundings.
"Good morning, carissima"
I lifted my head to realise that I'd fact fallen asleep with my head on Caius chest, my right arm and leg lazily draped over him, as his arm was wrapped around me. Instantly, I felt my cheeks heat up as I buried my head in the bed sheets to avoid further embarrassment. It was too late now, though.
"When did I fall asleep?" I groaned.
"You were fast asleep by the end of the movie, so I thought I'd let you rest, instead of disturbing you by taking you back to your room" I felt the soft rumble in his chest as he replied, a smug grin on his face.
"Sorry about that" I added, now attempting to get up. For whatever reason, some really dim part of my brain decided that it was a good idea to climb over Caius rather than roll to the other side of the bed, so with all of my will power I attempted to slide over him, only to realise I'd gotten stuck with my legs straddled either side of his torso. Why was I always getting myself into these situations?
"Do you need any help?" he chuckled. Of course he was loving this, as he placed his hands on my sides in an effort to assist me in standing up. If anyone were to walk through his door at this exact moment, this scene would look beyond ridiculous, and humiliating. I pulled my left leg over, now kneeling on the edge of the bed.
"It's fine, I've got it, I-" I slipped back and almost fell onto the floor before Caius zoomed in from behind me and caught me under my arms so that I was leant against him.
"Thanks," I smiled, blushing as he stood up, his arms still under mine, "is your hair naturally blonde?"
"Excuse me?" he asked irritatedly, spinning me around to face him. Had I struck a nerve?
"It's just so white, I was wondering if it's always been that colour or if you simply bleached it" God, I was digging my own grave.
"Yes, it is my natural colour. I have no reason to artificially colour my hair," he turned his head slightly to look at my hair, "is yours natural?"
"Ha, I wish" I giggled.
"Why do you colour it blonde then?"
I thought about this for a moment, and in fairness I really didn't have any good reason or explanation to give him.
"Because I want nothing more than to look exactly like you, Caius," I snarked, before turning to stroll out of the door, "thanks again for the evening!"
He didn't answer, but instead stared at me in bewilderment as I casually left in a fit of laughs, closing the door behind me. And that is how you make a grand yet stupid exit.
"Hi"
I leapt off my feet and quickly spun around, my heart beating out of my chest. "Jesus, will you vampires stop doing that?"
"I wish I was sorry," he replied, extending a hand, "I'm Afton"
Dick.
"Eliana," I raised an eyebrow before shaking his hand,"so, why are you here 'Afton'?" I mimicked his name.
"Actually I was sent to escort you back to your room, but now that I'm thinking about it, it might be a little more fun to leave you to find it for yourself"
"Right, I'm not dealing with this, just lead me back to my room please" I bowed sarcastically.
"If anything, I'm supposed to bow to you"
"Be my guest"
He exaggerated his bow and began the walk back, me beside him. His human walking pace was so incredibly fast and he took such big steps, which did make things a little difficult for me.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, how was your evening with Master Caius?" he asked.
"I do mind actually" I responded, refusing to make eye contact with him. It seems the Volturi only hire the best.
"Okay, well let me rephrase my question; please do tell me how your evening was with Master Caius"
"Why? Am I obliged to tell you?"
"No," he looked down at the ground that was moving speedily past us, "I just wanted some drama. You have no idea how little the guard have to gossip about"
"Fine" I sighed, as it wasn't really a secret. I proceeded to tell him everything about the evening, and in his defence, he makes a very good audience, gasping in shock and laughing at just the right times.
"Hmm, so do you like him?" he pried.
"What do you mean? We're mates"
"That didn't answer my question. Do you like him?" he raised an eyebrow in anticipation.
"I mean…yes, yes I do" I answered with false confidence, as we arrived back at what I could only assume was my door, considering I had absolutely no navigation skills.
"In my opinion, I think your relationship with the Masters is cute" he remarked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Don't make this weird, Afton" I waved my hand at him dismissively, opening the door to enter my room as he followed me in and closed the door behind him. I headed over to my dresser and pulled the hair band out of my hair, my locks tumbling down my face.
"You're not leaving, are you?" I paused, not even bothering to turn around.
"Did you want me to leave?" he questioned, settling into a chair in the corner of the room.
"Stay if you want, I guess" I groaned. To be honest though, as much as Afton had already managed to piss me off and we'd only just met, he was good company to have around and talk to. I bent down and picked up my iPod off the floor, playing through my music at full volume. Reaching over to the wardrobe, I pulled out two identical blouses in different colours.
"Pink or blue?" I asked, turning to him.
He shrugged his shoulders and lazily pointed his finger at the blue one. I grabbed the first pair of jeans I could find and headed into the bathroom to change, locking the door behind me. When I came back out, my laundry gathered in my arms, I found my breakfast on the table, and Afton lying on his stomach on the floor, his legs in the air crossed at the ankles, scrolling through my song list.
"What are you doing?" I queried.
"Looking for any decent songs, this is a good one" he pressed play before standing up again, taking my laundry from me and tossing it into the laundry basket by the door.
"Are you a Kelly Clarkson fan or something?" I commented on his choice of song, 'Since U Been Gone'
"It's better that than some of the other stuff you have there" he remarked, resuming his position in the chair.
"If you say so" I curled up on the edge of my bed, my breakfast on my lap.
"If you ask me," he begun, fiddling with a hair band he'd found on the windowsill, "you should've made a move while on top of Master Caius"
"Is this your relationship? I didn't think so"
"Ew great, now I'll never get that image out of my head" he cringed in the corner.
"You asked for it!" I laughed, almost spilling food all over me. It was nice to have a friend to talk to and laugh with, especially with my current issues. Considering how I was walking into this whole 'true mate' thing completely blindly, any friendly advice or support would be great.
Author's note: Hey yo, so I'm back with another chapter yay. Eli seemed like she needed a close friend around here, so I thought I'd give her one. Also, she's finally becoming less terrified of Caius, and I'm honestly falling in love with her relationship. Sorry that I'm updating so frequently, it's just that there really isn't much to do when in quarantine. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading, ily!