"Ugh! It's too early," I groaned while my alarm went off on my phone.
"What is that infuriating noise?" Caius growled and dashed over to my desk to turn off the alarm.
"My alarm, it'll go off again in five minutes," I murmured through a yawn, my eyes still closed.
"You need to begin your day, tesoro."
I felt a soft hum underneath me as he spoke, and wearily glanced up to notice that I was asleep on top of Marcus. Making another groaning sound, I hid my face in his shirt and stubbornly refused to move.
"Why?" I whined childishly, earning a chuckle from all three of them.
"Because I do believe that you are required to attend school by human law," he responded with a light shove. Still, instead of actually climbing to my feet, I rolled back on top of him and curled up more comfortably than I had before.
"Eliana, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," he warned, making another attempt to motivate me to begin my day. Again, I refused.
Without warning, Marcus was stood up from the bed but, oddly enough, I had my arms wrapped around his neck and my legs around his torso, clinging to him like a drowsy koala bear. His expression seemed to be a mixture of confusion and amusement.
"The hard way it is," he lightly chuckled.
This vampire. Again, without warning, he yanked me off of him before lightly tossing me onto the bed like some kind of stuffed toy. My landing was a little uncomfortable, but I'd probably have broken the bed if Aro and Caius hadn't caught me to minimise my fall damage. I landed with Aro's grip under my arms, while Caius arms were wrapped around my waist.
"What the hell was that for?" I stared at Marcus in shock, my mouth forming a perfect 'O'.
"Do not say that I did not warn you," he defended with a chuckle before politely helping me back up off the bed in a much more sensible fashion than previously.
"When you said 'hard way', I didn't think you meant throwing me across the room for a game of catch!"
I threw my arms up in the air exasperatedly and collected my clothes from my chair, heading over to the bathroom to change. Locking the door behind me, I changed out of the leggings and hoodie I'd slept in as quickly as possible, wearing a pale blue t-shirt tucked into a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and a pair of white ankle socks. It was only after making eye contact with myself in the mirror that I noticed the severity of my face. The cut, although dried over, was so damn obvious and…hideous. If that thing left a scar, I would personally track down and kill Noah myself. Actually, I probably wouldn't, but still the motive was there.
Collecting my pyjamas, even though they didn't really count as pyjamas, I headed back to my room, only to find that Caius was missing.
"Um, where did Caius go?" I asked, glancing around to check that I hadn't just gone blind.
"He took the liberty to cook you some food to eat; I do believe you humans call it breakfast?" Aro wondered curiously.
"Yeah, did you not know that?" I laughed, sitting down at my desk with my legs crossed under me.
"I was just confirming. Out of the three of us, Caius in fact has the most knowledge of the preparation of human food," he shrugged.
Marcus sat on the end of my bed with his elbows on the edge of my desk, holding a pack of flashcards I'd prepared a few weeks earlier. "Would you find it beneficial if I were to quiz you before your examination later today?"
"Go ahead, I doubt I'll get a single one but it's worth a shot," I responded, picking up my foundation and beginning the efforts to cover up the wound on my face.
"I am sure you will be able to guess at least a few, cara mia," Aro assured from behind me, now holding a hairbrush and detangling spray.
"Define the term 'diminished responsibility'."
"Um…"
I looked in the mirror and made eye contact with Aro who was stood behind me, brushing through my hair while discretely mouthing the answers. Grinning smugly, I recited his answer perfectly.
"A person who kills or is part of the killing of another is not to be convicted of murder if he was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning"
"Providing her with perfect responses is not going to assist her in learning, Aro," Marcus scolded.
He gasped melodramatically. "My brother, I cannot believe that you would ever accuse me of such wrongdoing, I was merely styling Eliana's hair."
Aro picked up my hair straightener along with a few hair clips and began clipping sections of my hair up. To be honest, I was never one to use heat on my hair and I'd only ever used my straightener a few times.
"Il mio amore, would you like to continue revising?" Marcus asked, narrowing his eyes at Aro.
"Sure, I've got it this time," I hyped myself up and fidgeted slightly which caused the straightener to narrowly miss burning my neck.
"Stay still, the last thing I would want is to injure you," Aro instructed, having somehow already gotten through half of my hair with his freakishly-fast vampire speed.
"Fine, just let me fix this," I gestured to my face and continued blending in my foundation and concealer.
"Define the term 'automatism'."
"Ooh, ooh, I know this one," I squealed, almost dropping my makeup sponge, "It's caused by an external factor, and the defendant has no control over their actions, SO," I added enthusiastically, "they committed the actus reus of the offence but they have no recollection of it. So, like, sneezing would be an example."
"That is almost exactly what you have written here, well done tesoro," Marcus beamed.
Aro quickly arranged my hair in front of my shoulders, adjusting it slightly like some kind of professional hairdresser. "ecco!"
"'ecco'?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It can be translated to English as 'so there'," he smiled smugly, placing the straightener back down and leaving it to cool off.
Surprisingly enough, he actually did a pretty damn amazing job (better than I would've done in anyway). My hair was completely pin straight and parted in the middle, with both sides tucked neatly behind my ears.
"How did you do it so easily?" I asked in shock, admiring his handiwork.
"I highly doubt you would remember," he began, "but during our very first meeting, my hair was straight. You see, we do happen to know a thing or two when it comes to hair care"
"Huh. You know, I used to judge men with long hair, like, a lot. I thought it was kinda weird and hippy, but whatever floats their boat blah blah blah, but it's really through you three that I've noticed how good it can look" I rambled.
"Is that s-"
"Your breakfast is ready, carissima," Caius interrupted from the kitchen with a subtly aggressive tone. God, why did that boy always sound angry?
"I'm coming," I yelled in response, standing up from my chair and checking the work I'd done on the makeup. Not too shabby, Eli, not shabby at all.
"Thank you both," I briefly hugged each of them and grabbed my bag from beside my wardrobe, "ooh, almost forgot."
I pulled out my iPod and speaker from behind my curtain on the windowsill, waving it around in the air excitedly.
"Is that the gift we got you?" Aro asked, both his and Marcus' faces lighting up.
"Yes of course, and guess what? I added 'My Neck, My Back'!" I jumped up and down on the spot. Jesus, Eli, you're turning into Alice.
Marcus hummed in thought. "I do not think Caius will take well to you listening to that song, il mio amore, especially considering the fact that he was the one who denied it in the first place."
"I guess we'll see, babe" I replied playfully, skipping down the stairs and into the kitchen with my iPod and speaker in my hand.
Caius was patiently stood at the kitchen island, tapping his fingers on the tabletop. In front of him was a delicious looking plate of scrambled eggs and toast. Now I just felt bad for tormenting him with this song, I mean, if only you could see his proud little face as he looked at the food he made…
"Breakfast is served," he slid the plate over to me with a smug grin.
"Thanks babe, the food smells divine," I smiled humbly and plugged my speaker into my iPod for the moment of truth.
While holding onto my slice of toast in my right hand, I used my left to flick through the songs, finding what I was looking for. Once the volume was turned up to its highest, I hesitantly pressed play, taking in another large mouthful of toast.
All you ladies pop yo' pussy like this,
Shake your body, don't stop, don't miss,
"Eliana, turn that disgraceful, unholy racket off this instant!" he snapped.
Well knowing I was setting myself up for disaster at this point, I shook my head and stood up while finishing the slice of toast in my hand, carrying the iPod and speaker around with me.
"Turn. It. Off," he seethed.
"Do it now, lick it good, suck this pussy like you should," I belted out while Caius encircled me from around the kitchen island, practically snarling at the lyrics. However, Aro and Marcus, who were now stood by the doorway, simply watched on in amusement.
Caius quickly materialized in front of me in all of his angry glory. "ELIANA, THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!"
He leaned over to try and pry it away from me, but instead I ran to the other end of the room, climbing onto one of the wooden chairs tucked under the table and holding it high above my head.
"NO!" I yelled teasingly with a giggle.
"Right," he hissed.
Before I knew it, his arms were wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me backwards off the chair. I tried to struggle out of his grip in a fit of laughs but he refused to let go, carrying me to the other side of the kitchen. Without even asking, he snatched the speaker from my hand and placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket, a smirk on his face.
"Why? Give it back!" I whined, grabbing onto his jacket and trying to retrieve the speaker back.
"I have no reason to," he snarked, a smug grin on his face.
"You're so boring-"
He instantly had me sat up on the surface of the kitchen island while he stood between my legs, narrowing his eyes at me. Staring at my lips, it seemed that his eyes went black before turning back quickly to their crimson colour, just as Aro's had done the night before.
"Did you say something?" he asked, bringing his face millimetres from mine. Jesus, I had to stop getting myself into situations like this.
"Nope," I answered simply.
With that, he trailed a few soft kisses tenderly from my lips down my jaw to my collar before helping me back off and onto my feet. I turned around to Aro and Marcus, who both had a told-you-so expression on their faces.
"We did warn you," Aro clapped his hands together happily.
I rolled my eyes at them before rotating back around to look up at Caius. "So, when can I get that back then?"
"I shall decide when."
"But come on, that's a gift, from you! You can't do that!" I argued.
"I am Caius Volturi, I do whatever I please," he retorted.
"Sure, blondie," I remarked, picking up my bag again and heading for the front door.
"Do you require a lift?" Marcus asked, jingling the car keys he held in his hand.
For some reason, people had constantly approached me all day, checking in to see if I was 'okay' and 'dealing with everything fine'. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't off-putting, but I didn't let it distract me and sat my law exam. Funnily enough, both of the terms Marcus had revised with me that morning came up, so I'd have to thank him for getting me to pass. Once the exam was over and I headed back to my locker, I was stopped by another girl. I only knew her from my dance class, and even then I wouldn't exactly consider her a friend per say.
"Hey, Eli, are you…okay? You know, with everything?" she asked honestly.
"Oh, er… Emilie…yeah I'm good, yeah," I replied hesitantly, drawing my eyebrows together.
"Okay then, if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here. Just remember, you're not alone," she smiled sincerely before leaving back down the corridor.
Before I had the chance to question what the fuck just happened, an announcement sounded from the intercom.
"Students, there will be an assembly held today at one o'clock this afternoon. You are all expected to attend to show your respects during this difficult time."
'Difficult time'? What the fuck had I missed? Why was everyone apologising to me and checking in on me? My God, there was clearly something someone was refusing to tell me, and I was itching to find out what.
"Good morning students," Mr. Adams greeted once everyone had filed in to the assembly hall. As I was running quite late, I'd only just managed to grab a chair near the back, but I was still close enough to hear what was happening.
"I'm sure you have all heard about the misfortune of the disappearance of Noah Henderson. Our beloved student has been reported missing since four o'clock yesterday evening. The police are currently looking into the disappearance, and are asking anyone with information to step forward…"
The rest of the speech I didn't listen to at all. It was something about 'staying united' and 'entrusting each other' and all that bullshit. This didn't make any sense, I saw Noah yesterday… shit! How could I have been so damn stupid? Of course the kings had something to do with it. How else would Caius have been so relaxed literally the day after I made him let go of the guy who hurt me? I wasn't angry that he was…dead? Was he dead? He must've been, that was the only logical explanation. But no, I wasn't angry that he was dead, upset maybe, but I was angry because they'd acted out of instinct, they'd killed one of my closest friends without consulting me, and after I very clearly instructed them to leave him, to not hurt him, to let him go.
"… and that is why we ask you to keep Noah's family, friends, and loved ones in your thoughts. They are going through a very difficult time, and it is best that we support them through this together, as a community."
Oh, they think they're going through a difficult time, just wait until I get my hands on those three conniving, lying bastar-
"Five, six, seven, eight…Eli, you're not concentrating!"
I'd been doing the same routine at dance for the last half hour, but my mind couldn't focus on anything but Noah. They killed him, they fucking killed him. Now it was only a matter of time before they came for every human I know, every friend, and every family member. I mean, I specifically said don't hurt him, please, just let him go', how difficult is that instruction to follow?
"Again, from the top…"
I felt someone nudge me lightly with their elbow, and spun around to face Emilie from earlier on. Quickly, she pulled my arm and whispered into my ear.
"Eli, don't panic, but there are three men in dark suits staring at you by the door," she informed me.
Turning myself around, I realised that the 'three men' she was referring to was in fact the kings, all three smiling lightly once they made eye contact with me. Here we go…
"Thanks, but don't worry about it. I'm off, see you soon" I whispered back to her before darting to the other side of the room and hastily putting on my trainers and hoodie, my backpack slung over my shoulder.
"Cara mia, it is lovely to-"
"We need to talk," I hissed angrily and began dragging the three of them back outside.
"And what is this concerning?" Marcus asked confusedly.
"Oh, I think you know," I muttered.
I led the three of them back over to the black BMW they'd brought over with them and hopped into the back seat with Marcus, Aro sat in the passenger seat leaving Caius in the driver's seat. As soon as I was certain all of the doors were closed, I completely snapped.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? All three of you?" I yelled.
The kings sat in shock, their eyes widening at my unexplained rage and fury.
"Excuse me?" Caius murmured angrily.
"You killed Noah? After I specifically told you to leave him alone? How difficult is that instruction to follow? All I asked is that you just leave him the fuck alone and let him go!"
"We did not kill him," Aro protested calmly, gesturing to them, "the guard did."
"The…," I looked at them confused. Were they seriously being for real right now? "They're your guard!"
"However, if I do remember correctly, which I do so do not argue with me on this, you said 'please, don't hurt him. Just let him go, Caius'"
"Your point?" I yelled hysterically.
"My point is that we personally were not the ones to hurt him, and Caius here did release his grip of young Noah just as you instructed," he argued.
"You…you killed Noah! What's wrong with you? What the actual fuck is wrong with you three? As much as he may be pretty fucked up in the head, he is, no was, my friend! He didn't mean to hurt me, he was just angry and for good reason. He didn't deserve to die, I made this perfectly clear! But apparently, I wasn't clear enough. No, you managed to find a loophole in what I said and order his death! HIS MURDER!" I screamed, tears now streaming down my face.
"He was a liability!" Caius argued back.
"I don't care about your stupid liabilities! Noah had a family, he had a little four year old sister who's now going to find out that her favourite big brother died, that he went missing and his body was never found! You really think that's okay? Are you honestly okay with that?"
"He hurt you, and not only that but he found out the existence of our kind, tesoro. There was no way that we could continue to let him live his life, and he did not deserve that of a vampire," Marcus defended, the calmest of the four of us.
"Oh, don't 'tesoro' me! You killed him, you really did just kill one of my friends, my ONLY friends! Who's it going to be next, hmm? All of my other friends? My classmates? My FAMILY?"
"We never meant to bring you this much emotional pain, cara mia," Aro murmured solemnly.
"Well maybe you should've thought about that before taking that Noah's life away," I hissed, crossing my arms over my chest and turning my head to face the window.
They'd really done it. I'd hoped all day that maybe his disappearance was just coincidental, that maybe he'd just stayed at a friend's house and would come straight back. But no, he was gone; gone for good.
Author's note: Well, there you go. I hope you guys enjoyed having Noah while he lasted haha. This chapter was surprisingly fun to write, which probably says something about how messed up in the head I am. Sorry I haven't updated in a few days though, I got distracted reading another fanfic on .net called 'Never Let You Go: The King and His Puppet' which I seriously recommend. Anyways, I'm getting off-topic now haha, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because reading it just makes lockdown that bit better for me, stay safe, and ily!