By the time I woke up the next morning, my head was throbbing with a dull ache. I'd spent most of the evening before with Renata before falling asleep, but I hadn't even gotten dressed before going to bed, still in my normal clothes. I groaned loudly at the blinding sunlight streaming through the window, face-planting into the nearest pillow.
"'Sir Afton of the Volturi, would you be so kind as to close the curtain for me?', 'Of course, queen Eliana of the Volturi, it would be an honour'"
"Do you ever shut up?" I snarked, muffled by my face pressed up against the pillow. I didn't even have to look up to know it was Afton.
"Yes, I am back, I don't blame you for your life being simply incomplete without me," he responded, "Also, I'd forgotten how humans sleep until just now, do you all make snoring sounds?"
I sat up and launched a pillow across the room at him which he caught easily. He smirked as I fell back, realising that I'd just hurled the pillow I was using and now had nothing to rest my head on.
"You happy now? You have my pillow."
"Want it back?" he taunted by waving it in front of my face.
"Give it," I hissed as I reached out for it, just for him to pull it away from my reach and above his head with his crazy vampire speed, "You're a dick, you know that?"
He ignored my comment and settled back on one of the grey beanbags by my TV. "Now that you're awake," some random song started playing, "say hello to Kelly Clarkson."
"I should tell Chelsea about your little crush," I teased.
"It's not a crush!" he yelled.
I giggled, placing a hand over my mouth. "Of course not, just an unhealthy obsession. Anyway, where did you get the speaker from? Caius-"
"Destroyed yours? Yeah, Corin told me."
"Corin? How the hell does Corin know? She wasn't even on the plane!"
"What can I say? Word spreads fast within the guard," he shrugged, "this one's mine," he glanced pointedly at the much larger royal blue coloured speaker sat on my desk.
"I didn't even realise you elderly vampires used any technology," I laughed.
Climbing out of bed, I went over to my wardrobe and decided to pick out an outfit. Something good for warm weather; the sun was beating down like the apocalypse outside. In the end, I settled on a pair of denim shorts, a white t-shirt, a light grey hair bandana, and a pair of Converse shoes. Afton made a remark about my outfit being 'edgy', but in response I flipped him off and locked the door to the bathroom to get dressed.
I went over to the sink and pulled out the box of contraceptive pills I'd brought with me. I really took them for my period more than anything, but still it was a good precaution to take, just in case I did get pregnant on the off chance. Not that I would anytime soon, as sex wasn't even something I'd remotely considered yet. Opening the pack, I realised I only had one left. Shit.
Once I came back out of the bathroom, Afton was flicking through TV channels boredly, eventually settling on some kind of Italian kids show with a bunch of grown adults dressed as children and singing nursery rhymes.
"Afton, don't take it personally, but what the fuck? Are you mentally okay?" I raised an eyebrow pointedly at the TV.
"Is anyone?" he turned off the TV quickly, "By the way, Renata said you had an existential crisis last night."
"Did she now? Yeah, it was a…weird evening yesterday to say the least."
"Do go on," he sat back, grabbing a notepad off my desk like some kind of therapist.
Reluctantly, I proceeded to recite my entire day, well knowing that if I didn't, he'd pester me to find out later. I didn't really know what was happening the day before. Was I in shock? Traumatised? It's like that whole memory was just a fuzzy grey area, as if nothing really happened. That vampire, what was his name? Oh, Octavius, he came at me hoping to drain my blood, only to be stopped by Jane and killed by Caius, with the assistance of Demetri and Felix. Why I reacted the way I did was a mystery to me, but at least I wasn't vampire food.
"Also, I forgot to mention," he added, "the Masters requested to see you in Aro's office."
"And you didn't tell me this earlier because…?" I asked exasperatedly.
"I don't have a good answer to that question, but they wanted to see you about seventeen minutes ago," he stood up, "allow me to escort you."
I sighed, following him out of the door. "What is with you lot and terrible punctuality?"
After a couple minutes of walking while Afton retold tales of his adventures out of the castle for the previous few days, we arrived at what I could only presume to be Aro's office door considering every door in this goddamn castle looked the same. He knocked quickly before darting away without a trace, which left me standing there awkwardly.
"Come in," Aro's voice called dismissively.
I hesitantly opened the door, walking in while staring at the ground. For some reason, I was feeling the same kind of shyness I did when I first met my mates all those months ago.
His tone instantly switched and became much more sincere as soon as he saw me. "Il mio amore, how are you?"
"Um, good, I guess," I answered timidly, glancing up at each of them.
Caius stood to his feet, pausing for a second before enveloping me in his arms while holding my head to his chest. I guess he felt bad for, you know, traumatising me and all that. I melted into his embrace, on the brink of having an emotional breakdown.
"Thank you for saving my ass," I whispered into his neck.
He seemed a little annoyed by my choice of wording, but his face returned to usual in an instant. "I'd do it a thousand times more, carissima."
Without warning, he lifted me off my feet, my legs wrapped around his torso as he placed a hand on my thigh to hold me up, sitting us down in the middle of the sofa so that I was straddled on his lap. I adjusted myself so that I was curled into him more comfortably, cuddled on his lap facing sideways.
"We apologise for traumatising you, tesoro," Marcus' voice murmured behind me as he pressed his cold nose against my neck.
"Don't apologise, seriously. It was either he died or I became vampire dinner, and I'm glad you didn't choose the latter," I smiled.
"If you are to be any vampire's dinner, you are to be ours," Caius purred before placing a chaste kiss on my cheek.
Aro took my hand in his, nosily sifting through my most recent thoughts for a few seconds as per usual. After pulling away, he burst out laughing manically, clearly having seen something that humoured him.
"What is it, Aro?" Caius snapped.
"Oh, brothers, you should have seen the shortened versions of our names our dear Eliana conjured up last night with Renata, simply priceless," he chuckled.
All gazes snapped to me as a blush spread across my face. See, this is the issue with a mate who knows everything about you; there are no secrets, none, no matter how hard you try. If anything, they see how much you wanted to hide the secret, which only makes matters worse.
"What names?" Marcus asked teasingly.
"It was nothing, I, um…" I trailed off shyly.
"Eliana here was discussing how many refer to her as 'Eli' or 'El', the only exception being us. Renata initially suggested the shortening of our names, which became 'Ro', 'Cai', and 'Mark'," he explained on my behalf as I hid my face under Caius' jacket, "Oh, but that isn't all; she even considered referring to us as 'Markie', 'Cai-bear', and 'Ro-bug'."
Marcus instantly erupted with laughter, his cool breath sending shivers down my spine. He tugged me backwards onto his lap and held me as humanly close to him as possible.
"You, tesoro, are one of the silliest people I will ever meet," he chuckled, planting a kiss on my neck.
Instead of responding, my face only became redder as I ducked my head down to hide myself with my hair. Honestly, at this point my life was just a series of embarrassment and regret.
"There is no need to hide your face, you look beautiful when you blush, carissima," Caius placed two fingers under my chin and lifted my face up to his.
"Cai-bear is right," Marcus laughed along with Aro.
I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. "This is bullying, just plain bullying."
"Is it now?" Aro raised an eyebrow as he moved to sit in the small gap between Caius and Marcus where I was lying across.
"Definitely, I went to all the anti-bullying talks in primary school when I was nine, I would know," I giggled.
"What did those anti-bullying talks teach you about then?"
"Um, well you're supposed to tell an adult you trust, so…Aro, I'm being bullied," I whined.
"And what is the adult supposed to do?" he chuckled.
"I don't know, I didn't think ahead that far," I replied honestly.
"Marcus is correct, you are one of the silliest people I certainly will ever meet," Aro teased, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.
"By the way," I sat up slightly, "there's something I need to ask, before I forget."
"Go on," Caius gestured for me to continue.
I inhaled sharply. "You see, god this is awkward, I take these contraceptive pills every day, mostly just to help my period pains really, but, um, my prescription ran out, soooo…" I drawled, "that might be a problem."
"Of course, cara mia, we would never want to risk impregnating you accidentally," Aro responded with a serious face.
Marcus spontaneously snorted with laughter, followed by Caius and Aro chuckling with him. Clearly there was some kind of joke I was missing here.
"What's so funny?" I couldn't help but laugh along with them, their smiles infectious.
"Oh bellissima, all three of us are undead supernatural beings, along with our sperm, so, if it came to it, pregnancy would not be possible in anyway," Marcus explained amusedly.
"As reassuring as that is, is there any way I can access some more in anyway?" I asked.
"Of course, I am sure we can persuade Carlisle to send some over," Aro nodded, moving me to sit on his lap between Caius and Marcus within a blink of an eye.
"Do you have any plans for the remainder of the day?" Caius asked me.
"None really, is there anything remotely interesting to do around here?"
Marcus hummed in thought. "We have the gardens as you have seen a few times, the library, we could pay a visit to Aro's little houseplant family," Aro scowled at him, "the swimming pool-"
"Oh, the swimming pool, what a delightful idea!" Aro exclaimed suddenly.
"Aro, you hate swimming," Caius stated.
"Come now, brother, there is no activity more entertaining than swimming," he responded which I would've assumed was sarcasm if his tone wasn't so serious.
"Aro, I can't swim," I added.
"You are unable to swim?" Marcus asked in amused disbelief.
"Like a pebble to water, my mother always said," I shrugged.
"Yes, I am aware of your…nonexistent swimming capabilities, but do you really expect to live a thorough, successful life without basic knowledge such as this?"
"Are you really saying that, without letting you teach me to swim, my life will suck?"
"In layman's terms, yes," he answered simply.
I sighed. "Fine, fine, we can go swimming later, just don't expect too much from me."
"There is no time like the present," he stood up, placing me back down on the ground.
"Wait, we're going now?"
"Why of course, we will meet you at the swimming pool at," he checked his watch, "three o'clock."
Something told me this could get interesting.
I was back in my room with my towel wrapped around my torso after just having quickly showered. Maybe there wasn't actually any use in that, but still, I felt the need to freshen up. I checked the time; I still had twenty more minutes to get ready.
Before I'd even realised it, Heidi had materialised beside me, pulling my towel off and discarding it on my bed.
"HEIDI WHAT THE-"
"Relax, honey, I'm helping you choose out a swimsuit. I've been waiting for the perfect moment to dress you up for months," she responded excitedly, looking me up and down.
Suddenly, I felt very exposed, probably because I was. I reached over to retrieve the towel but she grabbed my arm, refusing to let me move.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Hmm, you have quite small breasts, not much of an hourglass figure, but a nice arse, we definitely need something to emphasise that, something high-waisted? Yes, I see lilac as a good colour on you," she babbled on.
"Um, can I have my towel back now?" I placed my hands over the important areas.
"Don't be like that, we're both ladies," she called, bustling into the wardrobe and rummaging through the bikinis, "I would recommend you shave."
"I've already shaved my legs."
"Oh Eli hun, I'm not talking about your legs," she laughed condescendingly with her head still in my wardrobe.
With a grumble, I stormed into the bathroom and reluctantly shaved 'not my legs'. Her little body assessment of mine was kind of awkward though, especially considering the fact that the only particularly positive thing she pointed out was my ass. While I was in the bathroom, she opened the door slightly to toss the bikini in my direction.
In her defence, she'd done a pretty good job of choosing one. This two-piece was high waisted, made my boobs look a little bigger, my stomach look flatter, and even made my hips look good. I emerged from the bathroom as she squealed, clapping her hands together before tying off the back of the bikini top.
"Yes Eli, what did I tell you? You should let me dress you up more often. Now for the hair," she continued.
"What do you mean my hair? I'm swimming, not going to some kind of fancy dinner," I snarked.
"Look, we'll just move it to one side like…," she adjusted it over and added hairspray to hold it in place, "so. When you go into the pool, the hairspray will wash out, which should make your hair look flowing and gorgeous as you swim."
I coughed, swatting away at the air due to how much hairspray she'd used. Meanwhile, she hurried over to my vanity, pulling out a bunch of makeup items.
"Heidi, I'm going underwater," I reminded her.
"I'm aware, these are all waterproof. Now, if there is one thing I know about the Masters, it is that they are not keen on women who wear too much makeup, so it needs to be subtle. I'm thinking mascara, concealer, maybe some of this," she held up a waterproof lip gloss.
"I can do my own makeup," I insisted.
"No, no, allow me," she began blending out the concealer, "I have many years of experience."
She managed to somehow finish my makeup in two minutes flat. "Ecco, now you are ready. My work here is done, you look as stunning as always," she stepped back to admire her handiwork before heading over to my wardrobe and throwing me a pair of high-waisted denim shorts, flip-flops, and my grey zip-up hoodie, "put these on and let's go, you are expected in two minutes."
Author's note: I need to stop writing so fast lmao, I'm literally getting out a chapter a day which is honestly crazy. It's just, with lockdown and GCSEs being cancelled and all, I have nothing better to do. If these constant updates annoy you, I'm sorry haha. Also, I feel like I want to give these chapters names at some point, but I don't know, we'll see how things go. Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love reading your comments aha, stay safe, and ily!