The car finally pulled up just outside the Volturi's private jet after one of the most painful car rides I'd ever experienced. Caius was the first to leap out of the car, slamming the door behind him before I even had the chance to climb out of his side. Instead, Marcus held his door open for me, extending a hand to help me out. Once I was out onto the runway, I scowled at Caius, following him up the stairs with Marcus and Aro both close behind me. For some reason, Caius had stopped on the top step, having what felt like an unnecessary conversation with Santiago. I shoved into his back as hard as I possibly could, attempting to push him into the plane.
"Eliana," Aro warned behind me.
I spun around to face him, leant against Caius' back while Aro stood a few steps below me with his arms crossed over his chest. "What did I do this time?"
"Be sensible," he growled.
Suddenly Caius lurched forward, sending me flying backwards into the plane and onto my ass with a light "oof". Instead of helping me up, he simply laughed at me before taking his seat in the corner. Marcus kindly lifted me to my feet by my waist, steering me back into the plane and into the seat opposite Caius.
"What was that for?" I hissed at him in a whisper.
"I do not know what you are talking about," Caius shrugged, placing his hands behind his head with his elbows facing outwards.
"God, you're so annoying," I groaned.
"What did I say about being sensible?"
Aro appeared between us, a slightly annoyed look on his face.
"We were being sensible, right Caius?" I leant around Aro and with my eyebrows raised at him.
"Mhm," he responded.
With that, Aro moved past us to sit to the left of Caius, with Marcus sat on my right. Caius was just frustrating me so much in that instant, I just wanted to yeet him out of the plane so badly. Now, not only did I have absolutely no way to play my music, but he was also taking every opportunity to get back at me.
We were all sat in virtual silence during take-off, Renata and Santiago quietly playing Uno on the other side of the plane while Demetri read some book written in Greek. However, we hadn't even been in the air for five minutes before Caius discretely kicked me in the shin. Hard.
"Ouch! Do you mind?" I snapped, kicking him back.
"What did I do?" he pulled an all-too-innocent face.
"You're joking? You kicked me!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Look," I lifted my leg up, placing my foot on his lap, "you see that red mark? You see? Right there? That was from your shoe!" I argued, placing my foot back down on the floor.
"You have no evidence to back that up!"
"Oh yeah? You've been kicking me in the leg the whole way here!"
"That is because you continually jab me in the rib!"
"Well that's just because you destroyed my own belongings and blamed it on me!"
"Why are you such a child?!"
"Why are you such a baby?!"
"THAT IS ENOUGH!"
Aro erupted in fury, standing up from his seat with his hands in tight fists. He stormed over to where I was sat and towered over me with his face a mere few centimetres away from mine, his arms either side of my head blocking my view.
"I have warned you time and time again to not anger me or cause me to lose my temper, but you have ignored me every single time! The way you are acting is simply unacceptable and I cannot, and will not, tolerate it..."
His crazy rant went on for a few more minutes, but I zoned out after a couple of seconds. I'd never seen him this angry before, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't just a little off-putting. I had to think of something to calm him down, as I couldn't just leave him boiling with fury for the next twelve hours.
For some reason, my dumb brain decided the only way to calm him down was to kiss him, so once his rant was over and his face was still scowling at me, I leant up to him, pressing my lips against his. To be honest, I even confused myself, but it did seem to work, his posture already loosening up slightly.
"Sorry, I don't know-"
He cut off my embarrassing apology with his lips, kissing me much more passionately than we had ever kissed before, with one gentle hand cupping my cheek. His tongue gently traced my lips as I opened my mouth for him, allowing him to deepen the kiss further. Once I eventually pulled away for air, I blushed realising that Marcus and Caius had been sitting there, awkwardly watching the entire time. Before I'd even realised it, I was sat on Aro's lap on the seat I'd been previously sitting on as he held me to him closely.
"I apologise for losing my temper, cara mia," he murmured into my hair.
"Don't, it was Caius' fault in anyway," I laughed, narrowing my eyes at him sat opposite us.
My sentence was followed by an aggressive growl from both Caius and Aro aimed at me. For fear of starting up another argument blown out of proportion, I shuffled over a few centimetres from Aro's lap onto Marcus', curling up into a tight ball. He let out an amused chuckle, encircling his arms around my waist.
"And this, my brothers, is why I stay out of disagreements such as this," Marcus said to the other two, gesturing to me proudly as if getting me to sit on him was an achievement.
"Bellissima, you may sit with me, I promise I won't be angry at you again," Aro pleaded while seeming pretty desperate for me to resume my seat on his lap, glancing over at Marcus with jealousy in his eyes.
I sighed. "Well I'm comfortable now," I answered him with a shrug, holding a corner of Marcus' cloak and hugging it closer to me to breathe in his scent.
Caius seemed humoured at Aro's defeated expression, which prompted a series of menacing glares exchanged between them both. However, I was much too comfortable to take much notice of my surroundings, the sound of Marcus' gentle purring in my ear slowly lulling me to sleep as I cuddled into him under his cloak like a warm blanket.
-oOo-
"Il mio amore," Marcus' voice whispered warily so as not to startle me.
"I'm up, I'm up," I jolted upright, rubbing my eyes as a yawn escaped my lips.
He chuckled lightly. "There is something we three must discuss urgently, would you mind waiting with Renata and Santiago?"
In fairness, those two had been so quiet that I'd forgotten they were even there.
"Gladly, have fun boys."
I smiled tiredly and slid off his lap, picking up a throw blanket from one of the seats opposite to us and wrapping it around myself like a cocoon before heading to the other side of the plane. Renata and Santiago were both sat on the floor with their legs crossed, apparently in a very intense game of Uno.
"Hey dude, you up for Uno?" he asked as he shuffled over slightly and patted the floor beside him.
I settled down between him and Renata, the throw blanket pooled around my waist. "Why not, I guess."
Considering I'd only ever played Uno once or twice before, I was pretty damn surprised when I won the first three games we played. Santiago kept insisting it was just 'beginner's luck', but I was going to take the small victory in anyway. Although, once I'd won the fourth game, I did accidentally get a little overly-enthusiastic.
"HA, YOU LOSE, SUCK IT!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and pointing my index finger at them.
"I said it once and I'll say it again dude, beginner's-"
"Luck, yeah, I heard the first time," I interrupted, "but did you see that? I WON!"
"Sshhh," Renata hissed, placing a finger over her lips as she glanced pointedly over my shoulder.
"What?" I asked her loudly.
Before I even realised it, someone had thrown me over their shoulder and was carrying me back to the other side of the plane, placing me down in the seat I'd fallen asleep in before with a soft thud as a light "oof" sound escaped my lips again. Looking up, I noticed that Marcus was stood towering above me while pinning my arms above my head.
"We were trying to have an urgent, uninterrupted discussion, tesoro," he shook his head with a light chuckle.
"Sorry," I muttered while looking down in the direction of the floor.
He quickly kissed my nose. "What are you like?" he mused to himself just as Aro scooped me up with his arms under my knees and behind my back, placing me down on his lap.
"How much longer?" I asked him.
Aro glanced at his wristwatch but was interrupted by Caius.
"Four hours approximately," he snapped.
"Thanks Caius, even though I didn't ask you actually," I responded with a grin.
"Oh, you have decided to call me Caius again, brilliant."
"What's your issue?"
"Do you not remember? In the car? When you referred to me as 'albino bunny'?"
"Oh, that, yeah."
"Is that it?"
"What else did you want?"
"I was really looking for an apology."
"For calling you 'albino bunny'?" I raised my eyebrow at him confusedly.
"Whatever else for?"
I laughed a little too loudly. "Are you honestly offended by that, Caius?"
"I am not offended, rather it is rude to provide such derogatory names for people."
"Hey, if anything you should feel honoured, babe. I don't have a nickname for Marcus or Aro yet, you're the first," I defended.
"Honoured?" he asked in disbelief.
"Well…yeah."
"Eliana, from now on, only refer to me by my proper name, not by some childish nickname you have created."
"You do realise that I'll continue using it no matter what you say, right?" I laughed.
A deep growl sounded from his chest, warning me to stop talking and setting myself up for disaster. Maybe an hour or so passed in almost complete silence, no one bothering to say a word. During that time, I'd tried to distract myself by staring out of the window and absent-mindedly fiddling with a stray piece of Aro's hair while seated on his lap, but nothing cured my boredom.
"Aroooo," I moaned dramatically, leaning back so my head fell onto Marcus' lap.
"What is the matter, cara mia?"
"I'm bored," I lazily threw my arms up in the air.
"You have already reached boredom?" he asked with subtle amusement in his voice.
"Yeah, there's nothing to do, this is so boring."
Marcus ran his hand through my hair gently. "You could try sleeping?" he suggested.
"Why not? I've got nothing left to lose," I groaned, sitting back up and curling up in a ball under Aro's cloak.
He chuckled as he wrapped his cloak tighter around us, my head rested against his cool chest. After a minute or so, he began purring gently.
"Can I ask a question?" I murmured.
"Of course, bellissima," he smiled, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.
"Why do you guys purr?"
"That is something best explained by Marcus," he responded, which caused Marcus to snap out of his dazed state and join in on the conversation.
"Purring is an involuntary action experienced by vampires around their true mate, tesoro. This often happens either as a sign of contentment, or to comfort and relax their mate," he explained.
"Oh, so that's why it always sends me to sleep?"
"That is correct. Due to the phenomenon of true mates being relatively uncommon, many are not even aware that we vampires are capable of purring. I was only made aware due to the many books and texts we own on mating within our library."
"So, you didn't purr before meeting me? This is, like, a whole new thing?"
"Yes, that is correct. Again, purring is involuntary, and I for one certainly do not even notice when I am doing it, unless it is pointed out," he chuckled lightly.
"Huh, that's pretty cool. I first heard it from Aro during my first week in Volterra, and then from Caius back at home that one night, and then you just before I fell asleep a few hours ago, but I kept forgetting to ask," I shrugged, "it is really soothing though, it has to be said."
"Really?" Aro spun my shoulders to face him.
"Yeah, bizarrely enough I can't help but fall asleep honestly. It almost feels like I'm being put under some kind of anaesthetic or something, it just completely numbs my thoughts," I giggled.
I curled back into Aro's chest as he cradled me in his arms tenderly, the soft sound of his purring making my eyelids feel heavy. Despite having no body heat whatsoever, falling asleep on top of him made me feel warm and cosy nonetheless for some reason.
-oOo-
"Cara mia, svegliati ," Aro whispered gently.
I opened my eyes slowly and glanced out of the oval window to see that we had landed already, a black 7-seater Range Rover parked just off the runway. Bustling with excitement, I jumped off of Aro's lap and followed Caius out of the plane, Marcus and Aro just behind. This time once we got to the steps leading out of the plane, rather than watching me fall to the ground and laughing, Caius politely took my hands, carefully ensuring I didn't have a chance of slipping and face-planting into the ground.
"Huh, so you're not going to watch me fall this time, okay then," I snarked playfully.
"I would never," he responded sarcastically.
"If you say so, albino bunny."
His expression suddenly turned much angrier as he stormed away from me to the car with his hands in tight fists. On the plus side, at least I now knew what triggered him the most.
Once we got to the car, Demetri placed my suitcase in the boot before hopping into the driver's seat as per usual, and Caius dashed over as quickly as possible to join him in the passenger seat. Maybe I should've been a little offended that he was that desperate to sit away from me. I sat in the middle as before, with Aro on my left and Marcus on my right, Renata and Santiago in the back two seats together.
After a few minutes of driving, the airport was no longer in sight, which is when I remembered something.
"Wait a minute; didn't Jane and Felix come to Forks to guard me as well?" I asked.
"They were relieved from guarding duties two days earlier, hence they are already back in Volterra," Aro informed me.
"Oh, that makes more sense, I thought we were just abandoning them with the Cullens," I quietly laughed, leaning back into Marcus' chest.
The drive back was pretty short to be honest, mostly due to the fact that Demetri often drives much faster than the speed limit. While Google predicted the journey to take just over an hour, we made it back to the castle in half an hour easily. Disappointingly though, we sped straight past McDonald's, causing me to let out a pathetic whimper like a sad puppy. The car took the usual route off the main road and down into the underground tunnel system, pulling in to park in the Volturi's indoor car park. This time, the car park was a little fuller than before, maybe twenty or so vehicles including a minivan and a few motorcycles dotted around.
I shuffled over to Marcus' side of the car as he placed his hands on my waist and lifted me out and onto the ground. Due to my general tiredness and jet lag, I was barely awake as we stumbled into the annoying-elevator-that-plays-opera-music, almost falling asleep leant against Aro.
"Please try to stay awake until you reach your bedroom, bellissima," he spoke over the quiet music.
I hummed, attempting to mumble 'too tired' which ended up coming out as a grunt, my arms wrapped around his neck.
With a roll of his eyes, he picked me up bridal style once the elevator stopped at our floor, dashing to my room at full speed and placing me down delicately on my bed. I spotted Caius and Marcus stood in the doorway out of the corner of my eye as Aro carefully removed my shoes.
"Should you not change your clothes?" he asked quietly.
"I don't care, let me sleep," I whined, muffled by my pillow.
He chuckled lightly, pulling a throw blanket over me and pressing his lips to my forehead
"Sogni d'oro, il mio piccola piantagrane," he murmured under his breath with a chuckle.
Author's note: Yay Eli's back in Volterra for the foreseeable future, how exciting! Thank you so much for getting this story past 10k views, it means a lot so thank you so so sooooo much for reading and enjoying what I write. In other news, today I was supposed to hand in my mark for a Statistics paper I supposedly finished at home and I had to make up a score because I'm too lazy to finish it haha.
Translations (any errors are due to Google Translate, please feel free to correct me):
Svegliati - wake up
Sogni d'oro, il mio piccola piantagrane - Sweet dreams, my little troublemaker
Thanks for reading, be sure to leave some feedback, stay safe, and ily!