"If you even dare hug me, I. Will. End. You."
Jane, Felix, Demetri, and Alec were about to leave for Seattle. They all had their hoods up just in case anyone saw them, but fortunately the weather was overcast and they would be running there in anyway. I had briefly hugged Felix and Demetri considering they were going to be gone for a month, if not longer, but the twins were obviously reluctant. Alec stood back amusedly with his arms crossed while Jane snarled at me before I had the chance to embrace her.
I stepped back with my arms up in surrender. "Chill your beans, Jane-y-Pain-y, look, not hugging you."
"Keep it that way, Little-Miss-Human," she growled. Eh, she loved me really.
With that, they dashed off down the underground tunnel system, only visible for a split-second as four dark-coloured blurs.
"Tell Bella I said hi!" I shouted before following Heidi and Corin back into the annoying-elevator-that-plays-opera-music.
"What are you doing for the rest of the day then?" Corin asked me.
"Well, my mates are in meetings all day, but it is sunny outside… I could try to get a tan?" my sentence came out as a question.
"Ooh yes, just imagine this body shape but sun-kissed as well, stunning," Heidi mused.
As soon as the elevator stopped at my floor and we heard the all too familiar ding, Heidi took my hand and all but dragged me back into my room. Corin bounced behind me excitedly like a drunk Tigger, singing a song to herself in some other language. Once we got in, Heidi closed the door behind us and, as usual, helped herself into my wardrobe.
"Can I help you?" I waved to try and get her attention.
She pulled out a deep red low-cut two-piece bikini, with a little less fabric than I was comfortable with. "I can just imagine how nice your tan lines will look in this shape, I just wish I could tan."
"Can you not tan?"
"No, it's a vampire thing, you get used to it. Anyway," she clapped her hands and handed me the swimsuit, "put this on in the bathroom and also make sure you use sun-cream and tan optimiser," she passed me both bottles.
Items in hand, I locked the door to the bathroom and began dressing out of the same hoodie and sweatpants I'd worn the night before. For someone who couldn't tan, Heidi knew an awful lot about tanning somehow. The swimsuit was very low-cut, and the top half only just covered the important bits, but either way no one was going to see. Usually the gardens were relatively empty, the only visitors being the human gardeners hired by the Volturi, the kings themselves, and guards when they felt like it, which wasn't that often to be honest.
After quickly piling on the sun-cream and tan-optimiser, I grabbed my sunglasses and placed them on top of my head before re-emerging into my room.
"Perfect, perfect, perfect, you look gorgeous as always," Heidi grinned proudly which made me blush.
Corin handed me a pair of shorts and a towel. "Put these on and let's go," she squealed.
"You know I'll probably just burn, right?" I told them while slipping on the shorts over my swimsuit and picking up the towel.
"It's worth a shot. If you get too badly burnt, there is a doctor in the medical wing that can treat both vampires and humans, so you're good," Heidi shrugged and took my hand, leading me out of the room and down the corridor.
"Okay, but please warn me as soon as my skin looks a little redder than usual. If I ignore it, my skin tends to peel and it's disgusting," I inwardly cringed.
Corin skipped along beside us. "Oh please," she waved her hand, "how bad can it be?"
"I hope you don't ever find out," I laughed as we got out into the sunlight.
We walked around the gardens for a few moments before settling down in the middle of the lawn. I had the towel spread across the grass and laid down strategically on my stomach with my shorts folded in a neat pile to the side. Meanwhile, Heidi and Corin were sat either side of me, enjoying the warmth the sun provided them as they glistened like walking disco balls.
It was only after fifteen or so minutes that Afton showed up out of nowhere, looking beyond confused at the sight of me randomly lying on the ground and soaking up the sun in a skimpy bikini.
I peered over the rim of my sunglasses at him. "Can I help you, sir Afton?"
"I was bored, just wanted to see what you were doing, queen Eliana," he shrugged, "what are you doing?"
"Eli is going to get a tan!" Heidi exclaimed.
"Or burn," I added, "either-or."
He sat down on the ground in front of me with his legs crossed. "Burn? I don't know how your mates will react to that."
"Chill, it's an added risk that comes with being pale like me," I gestured to my skin which was almost as pale as theirs, which spoke volume.
Afton held his speaker up. "Mind if I play some music?"
"Hells yeah, get that Kelly Clarkson going," I encouraged, my tone dripping with sarcasm.
"You can't help it, can you?" he sighed.
"I really can't, I will never, and I mean NEVER, let your obsession go," I warned him.
We spent the next hour or so singing along to a bunch of Kelly Clarkson songs, most of which Afton was the only one who knew the lyrics to. I'd flipped over onto my back half way through and taken off my sunglasses so that my tan would be more even. During our terrible karaoke of "Stronger", another guard came storming out angrily. I sat up straight, almost as confused as Afton.
This guard had sleek, dark brown hair which he had gelled perfectly into shape. His jaw and cheekbones were much defined, and his eyebrows were…scarily straight and completely perfectly shaped. The only thing that didn't suit him was his scowl, which was mostly aimed at me.
"Hello?" I winced at the sunlight which was blinding me.
"Master Caius has requested the music be switched off," he snapped in a broad accent, but I couldn't tell what it was.
"Sorry, who are you?" I tried to seem friendly but probably only came across as a bitch.
He growled. "I am Rafael, milady, and Master Caius has requested you end this music," he snapped. Wow, his temper is worse than Caius'.
"Geez, calm down, fine, but can't you just tell blondie to-"
"It is interrupting a very important meeting with the Ukrainian coven," the irony in him interrupting my sentence, "and he dislikes this music very much."
"Can we please at least just finish his song?" I asked him hopefully, "I'll make sure Caius doesn't blame you."
Instead of responding, he picked up the speaker from the grass and held it above his head, ignoring Afton's protests. Afton leapt to his feet and tried to retrieve it but Rafael not only was taller than him, but was also somehow faster.
"Master Caius instructed me to destroy this device if you refused to turn off the music, so," he crushed the speaker in his fist similarly to how Caius had destroyed mine, "have a nice day," he smiled and left within an instant.
The four of us stilled in complete silence, which Afton was the first to break after a few seconds. "…the fuck was that?"
"And I thought Jane was an asshole," I mused, "who the hell was that then?"
"Rafael? Yeah, he's always been a dick, ugh he has such a perfectly slappable face, and also he's such a kiss-ass to the Masters. Although, considering that, the fact that he just disobeyed your orders as the future queen was a little…weird."
"I would've gladly saved his tiny ass if he would've just let us finish the song," I shrugged, rolling back over onto my front, "have I gone red yet?"
"You're good," Heidi replied, "you're already tanning a little."
"Really? How can you tell?"
"Our eyesight, it's not too difficult to spot."
"Huh," I nodded, "anyway, what does that Rafael dude do then?"
"You're turning into Santiago," Corin laughed.
I giggled. "He didn't invent the word 'dude', dude."
"Rafael is a tracker, similar to Demetri but not nearly as powerful. He's one of the lower guards, and he got a little jealous when Demetri became the Volturi's sole tracker. Now he just lets out his jealousy by sucking up to the Masters in the faint hope that they'll promote him," Afton explained.
"Will they promote him?" I asked.
"After that? Chances are Master Aro won't even consider it since he acted like such an asshat to you. I mean, what was he thinking? Now he won't get his promotion and I won't get my speaker back."
"Do you want me to get Caius to punish him for you?" I offered with a laugh.
"Not worth the hassle. I guess I'll just have to order a new speaker for myself online, I'll get a spare one for you while I'm at it in case yours…"
"…gets destroyed by blondie again?" I finished. "Yeah, that would be great, I'll pay you back later."
"You know," Corin grinned mischievously, pulling a small speaker out from her pocket, "I still have my speaker here."
"I wonder if Caius' problem was with the volume or the song. I guess we'll find out," I giggled, taking the speaker from her and starting up a playlist of loud rap songs with explicit lyrics which I knew would piss him off.
I came back inside my room alone that evening after having spent the entire day outside with Afton, Corin, and Heidi. Considering I really hadn't achieved much or done anything all day, I was absolutely exhausted. Stepping into the bathroom with an oversized t-shirt and underwear in hand, I pulled the edge of my bikini top back and looked in the mirror.
I'd actually caught a tan, I had genuine tan lines. Sure, they weren't that obvious, but they were definitely there. The skin on my shoulders was maybe just a little pink, but usually I burnt way more. I began taking off my bikini top to put it back in my laundry basket.
"What are you doing, carissima?"
I yelped and placed a hand over my fast-beating heart, turning around to face Caius who was leant casually against the doorframe to my bathroom.
"How long have you been standing there for?" I drew my eyebrows together.
"I should have waited until you took your swimsuit off, I know," he smirked, strolling over to me.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Look at my tan lines though!" I yelled enthusiastically, pulling my top back so it just covered my nipple.
"Can you pull it back further?" he asked cheekily.
"Oi, watch it," I playfully slapped him on the chest before pulling him in to a brief hug, "how was your meeting with the Ukrainian coven then?"
"Uneventful," he sighed as I turned around to quickly change out of my swimsuit, "we were simply discussing our current alliance with them. The coven has control over most of our world in Eastern Europe and has helped us in the past during our war against the Egyptian coven."
"Geez, how many covens are there?"
"We have alliances with many, our closest currently being with the Ukrainian coven, but also with other powerful covens across Europe and Asia," he shrugged, "I actually came here to bring you this."
He placed his hand in the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a brand new speaker, identical to the one I had before. I turned around and squealed when he handed it to me before placing it down on the bathroom counter and throwing my arms around his neck.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" I breathed.
He chuckled lightly, placing one hand underneath me and the other on my back so that I was hoisted up against him with my legs wrapped around his torso. "Anything for you."
A yawn annoyingly escaped my lips and I placed my left hand over to cover my mouth. "Sorry, just tired."
"Do not apologise, it is not your fault that your species require sleep," he spoke, pressing his lips gently against mine.
"Aren't I, you know, heavy for you? I mean, I have the weight of a cow-"
"Eliana, not only are you the perfect size and weight, but I am also much stronger than you."
"I'm not too heavy to lift?"
"To me, it is like you have the weight of a piece of paper. While I worry about being delicate due to your fragility, your weight will never be an issue," he assured.
"So, could I lift you up? Just out of curiosity?"
He placed me back down onto the cold bathroom floor on my feet and held his arms open. "You can try."
Hesitantly, I bent down slightly at my knees and encircled my arms around his waist. I attempted to straighten my legs and pull him up off the ground, but he quite literally didn't move an inch, as if he was a genuine marble statue. He seemed to find humour in my futile attempt as I stood up again and regained my breath.
"God, you're heavy," I wheezed.
With a chuckle, he swept me off my feet and placed me back down on my bed in an instant. "That is the idea, carissima."
He began for the door, planning on leaving me to sleep before I stopped him. "Caius?"
"Yes?" he stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
"Can you stay with me?"
In a blur of movement, he appeared beside me on my bed. "Always," he murmured, comfortingly wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me to him delicately while he purred lightly in my ear.
Author's note: I almost didn't get this chapter done today because I woke up really late haha. I think I mentioned this to someone yesterday, but I might as well announce that there will be 50 chapters in total for this story, so there's really not long left :((
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback, stay safe, and ily!