"I don't believe you have ever seen my quarters," Aro held my hand and led me down the dimly lit corridors.
"Can't say I have," I giggled as he placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the end of the corridor, up a staircase on the left, and into the room at the top.
"You seem to giggle a lot," he noted lightly.
"It's a thing, I can't help it," I blushed, "It also acts as a coping mechanism. When I found out my hamster died when I was twelve, I burst out laughing and fell onto the floor. Sorry if it annoys you a little-"
"Not at all, bellissima, your laugh is music to my ears," he smiled and held the door open for me, allowing me to enter first.
His quarters were a little bigger than Marcus' or Caius', with a grand piano in one corner and various other musical instruments dotted around. By the large window at the end of the room was his desk, which was a littered with letters and documents.
I seated myself on Aro's sofa with my legs curled up underneath me and he sat beside me, his fingers curling around mine. He opened his arms slightly and I leant into his embrace comfortably while he pulled me onto his lap.
"Question: why do you have beds?" I asked him.
He paused for a second. "Recreational purposes. Furniture is almost always broken due to our phenomenal strength, but beds are easiest to replace."
"Oh…you're that strong?"
"It is the only reason why I am reluctant to…" he trailed off, "…with you. I have to use an incredible amount of self-control as it is to surround myself with you, cara mia. There is a very small difference in force between me stroking your hair and snapping your neck. I would never forgive myself if I hurt you in that way."
"You only have to wait, what, three more years?" I laughed.
He chuckled lightly, pressing a kiss to my nose. "If I managed to cope for three thousand years, I am certain I will make it through three more."
"Three thousand years," I repeated to myself in disbelief, "that's insane. So you're technically an elderly man. I'm in love with three elderly men."
"Do not think about my age in that manner, I will remain the same physical age eternally."
"Even if you were a frail old man, I'd love you in anyway," I ran my fingers through his soft black hair, "what would happen if I didn't become immortal? If I lived as a human for the rest of my life?"
He took an unnecessarily sharp breath. "We would continue to adore you for every second of your life but, once you'd hit the inevitable end of your life, we would end with you," he responded simply.
"Please don't talk like that," I hugged him tightly, nuzzling up against the crook of his neck, "the thought of you…it hurts me so much."
"It hurts me too," he shrugged, "but I thought it best if I answered your question regardless."
I softly kissed his cheek. "Another question, and this one's kinda random: how many people have you ever killed?"
He chuckled. "That is not a number I calculate, nor am I willing to. Most likely over one hundred thousand, but I do not keep track accurately."
"See, that's what makes you psychopathic. I know I already call Caius 'albino bunny', but maybe I should start calling you 'my little psychopath'-"
Before I knew it, I was tackled down on my back on the sofa, Aro hovering above me while pinning my arms down easily with his left hand. His hair completely surrounded us and a smirk played on his face. Wow, his smirk is hot, damn. Wait, he can read my- oh.
"'Oh' indeed," he murmured huskily.
He crashed his lips against mine, my arms still held above my head. His tongue battled for dominance against mine while his right hand trailed down the length of my body, settling on my hip. He tasted incredible, and I was reluctant to pull away for air. Even then, his now blackened eyes continued to roam my body as my breathing gradually returned to normal.
"I will let you go if you promise me you will never use the name 'my little psychopath' again," he spoke.
"You know I can't make that promise, Aro," I giggled.
Within an instant, I was lying on top of him on the other end of the sofa, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist to stop me from going anywhere. He began trailing kisses down my neck when he stopped suddenly without explanation while his lips lingered over my skin.
I breathed a laugh. "What?"
"You are tired, cara mia, you should have said, don't let me keep you awake," he stroked the side of my face.
"I'm not tir-" the rest of my sentence was cut off by a perfectly-timed yawn.
"Do not lie to me, Eliana, I can see that you need to sleep," he chuckled under his breath.
"Stupid mind-reading," I muttered, curling up in his arms.
He shook his head lightly before instantly moving me over to his bed, still wrapped comfortingly in his arms. I cuddled up to him so that my head was tucked just under his chin and my legs were tangled with his. After a few minutes, he seemed to begin humming some kind of tune to himself under his breath, just loudly enough for me to hear.
"What are you humming, babe?" I mumbled.
He went quiet for a moment. "I do believe my mother used to hum this tune to me when I was a young child. It must just be ingrained into my head at this point," he mused.
"You remember that far back?"
"I have snippets of memories, but most immortals do not remember much at all from their human life. Interestingly, I truly did forget about that song until now."
"I should get vampires to hire me for my memory resurfacing services," I laughed.
"Maybe they should," he agreed with a chuckle, "over three thousand years and that song had never come up."
"Could it be a mating thing?" I wondered.
"It must be," he ran a hand through my hair, "Do you have any idea how long I have waited to find my true mate? To think that, without the Cullen boy's little crisis over his mate, Bella, I would have never met you. When I first laid my eyes on your petrified figure hidden behind Alice, I felt terrible. Terrible that you feared us, feared me. I wanted nothing more than to hold you in my arms and comfort you, to make you feel safe. Alice Cullen, what a gift she has, notified me a few weeks in advance of your existence, but it was only when I saw you that I realised just how much I had truly fallen for you instantly, piccola."
"What did happen in the throne room? I know I had that nightmare a few months ago," I shivered at the thought of it, "but I still haven't regained any memory from most of that day."
He sighed. "Demetri walked into the throne room accompanied by Edward, Bella, and Alice. I still hadn't taken your presence into account, not realising you were the mate of us Alice had mentioned in her letter. The beginning of your nightmare was accurate, you were hidden away shyly behind Alice like a little shadow. At first, I really was planning on disposing of both Bella and yourself, but it was once you were brought forward that the mating bond first appeared between the two of us. I felt the tug but, due to your humanity, it was quite painful for you and I saw that pain reflected on your face.
"I then introduced you to Marcus and Caius, which was when the second and third bonds appeared, causing you to cry out in pain. As you were human and three of the strongest bond had appeared at once, not helped by your state of mind at the time, most of your energy was drained from you. You collapsed just as I caught you before you reached the ground, which was when you lost consciousness. Bella, the thoughtful friend she is, defended you, pleading for me to step away and to leave you alone, but Marcus made us aware that you would recover best beside your true mates. Caius carried you up to the room we had prepared, and we stayed by your side until you woke up.
"We were terribly worried at first, you were alive and your heart was beating but you did not seem to move a muscle. I made a phone call to Carlisle, and he advised us to call him again if you did not wake within 24 hours. I held my hand in yours to see if you were doing fine, but I saw nothing new in your thoughts. You eventually stirred after 16 hours to our relief, and I do believe you remember that point onwards."
His explanation seemed to open a flood gate of memories, and suddenly it felt like everything from that day made sense somehow.
"I remember now. I was hidden behind Alice because she told me not to draw attention to myself and to stick with her. I stood by her side at first, but, no offence, you red-eyed vampires scared the shi- I mean hell out of me. So instead I hid my face behind her in the faint hopes that I wouldn't have the blood sucked out of me like some kind of afternoon beverage."
"I did hear once that the blood of a true mate is supposed to be almost as delicious as that of a blood singer," he mused.
"Don't. Even. Think about it."
"Of course not. Unless, of course, you did start bleeding, and then I would only taste a small drop simply out of curiosity," he shrugged, "but your blood does smell delicious, bellissima, even to other vampires. You appear to have the perfect sweetness in yours, which was made apparent when Octavius," he practically hissed his name, "came for you the other day."
"I don't know if I should be flattered or terrified," I giggled awkwardly.
"You should be flattered," he breathed a chuckle, "As a general trend, the sweeter the blood, the stronger the vampire. Speaking of which, I have a close friend in the Denali coven, have you heard of Eleazar?"
I shook my head.
"He has the ability to detect the gifts in other humans and vampires. He will be visiting briefly with his coven in the coming weeks to see if you will be gifted. I will reiterate the fact that gifts within vampires are very rare, so do not be discouraged if there is nothing. If anything, Caius will have someone to relate to," he humoured.
"So, he has the gift to see other gifts?"
"He was previously a member of the Volturi and worked alongside me to build up the coven and accumulate gifted vampires. So far, there have never been any gaps in his capabilities, so his verdict is 100% certain. You have not shown any signs of a gift, but neither did Bella Swan, and her shield is incredibly strong."
"When did you discover you had a gift?" I asked him.
"It was the day I was transformed. I was able to see the memories of the humans I fed on, which, as you can imagine, startled me just a little," he explained.
"Hold up, you've seen everything I've ever seen…" I trailed off.
Not something I exactly want to ask out loud because I'm awkward, but you've already seen me…nude?
"I did not want to scare you off, but I would be lying if I said no," he said, which caused me to immediately tense up, "Eliana, I know you feel conscious about your body, but you have nothing to feel ashamed about. You are honestly the most perfect, beautiful person I've ever come across. I love everything about you, everything."
I cuddled myself closer to him. "Says you," I scoffed, "you're like a God compared to me. I mean, I didn't think guys could get this hot, but I stand corrected."
He shook his head lightly and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. "Sleep now, il mio amore."
I yawned and gently opened my eyes, noticing that Aro was still lying beside me with his arms wrapped around my waist tightly. I cringed at the morning breath taste in my mouth which earned a chuckle.
"Good morning, cara mia," he spoke quietly.
I groaned and rolled over on to my front. "I really need to stop waking up in everyone else's beds at this point."
"No, just mine," he smirked, flipping me onto my back within an instant.
"Touché."
He began to close the distance between us just before the door to his quarters flung open. Without warning, Caius came and settled down beside me on the bed, while Marcus messily draped himself on top of me with his head over my stomach. I yelped in surprise for a moment before playfully whacking Caius on the chest.
"Don't scare me like that, geez, could've given me a heart attack."
Aro seemed far from impressed by their unannounced visit. "Can I not have my little mate alone for one morning?"
"You had her last night, brother," Caius argued.
"Well you had her the night before," he glanced pointedly at Marcus, "and you had her the night before that," he glared at Caius.
"I have a name, you know," I reminded them.
"Why should I use it when you had the audacity to call me 'albino bunny'?" Caius raised an eyebrow.
"That was one time!" I exclaimed.
"Three times, actually," he corrected.
"And just last night, you referred to me as 'my little psychopath'," Aro continued.
"Woah-woah-woah, didn't you get annoyed at Caius for getting triggered by his nickname? Don't be a hypocrite," I faced my palms outwards.
"Do I get a nickname then?" Marcus asked.
"Do you want a nickname, babe?"
"It's not worth it," Caius warned.
"You will regret this," Aro added.
"I asked Marcus, actually," I snarked, "fine, I'll call you…didn't I call you a cinnamon roll the other day? There you go, 'cinnamon roll'."
Marcus smiled contentedly. "That works."
"How come his name is so much less derogatory than ours?" Caius complained.
"Got any better ideas then, babe?" I asked.
"How about using only our real names?"
"But that's so boring, this is way more fun. Plus, it annoys you, so it's what we in sales call a win-win scenario," I gestured before laughing.
Caius groaned. "Stop quoting that blasted movie."
"Make me," I challenged.
He was instantly leant over me as his lips crashed against mine while his hands cupped my breasts. It probably would've escalated much further if Aro and Marcus weren't in the room as well.
"Caius, it is a little unfair of you to monopolize our mate, don't you agree?" Aro interrupted.
"Hah," I giggled.
Caius looked far from amused, struggling to keep his hands to himself. "You really have no idea how irresistible you are carissima."
"That's it, I'm organising a group trip to the opticians. I think they do a '3 for 2' deal on men's glasses."
Aro erupted with laughter. "Cara, we have vampire eyesight, remember?"
"Does it deteriorate with age or something?"
"Do you trust us?"
"…what?" I asked, confusedly.
"Do you trust us, Eliana?" he asked again.
"Of course I do," I responded.
"How much do you trust us?"
I hadn't really put much thought to it. I loved them to bits, and to be fair I would do pretty much anything for them.
"I'd trust you with my life if it came to it," I answered.
"So do you trust us when we tell you that you are the most beautiful creature on the planet?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I guess I now have no choice but to," I frowned a little as he placed a chaste kiss on my lips, cupping my cheek with his right hand.
"Because it's the truth, tesoro," Marcus chimed in.
"Don't you think maybe your opinion is a little biased here?"
"Maybe," Caius began, "but it doesn't take away from the truth."
Author's note: This chapter was so sweet to write aww. I've been in a really weird headspace recently, and I don't really know how to describe it, but anyway if my quality of writing hasn't been at the top of my game, that's why. Anyways, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love reading your comments, stay safe, and ily!