Unlike all of my other wake ups, someone had shaken me awake a little too hard, forgetting I was human, which caused me to roll out of bed and onto the floor with a loud 'oof'. Glancing up, I saw an apologetic Corin standing above me, her sleek blonde hair braided neatly out of her face.
She quickly pulled me to my feet and dusted me off. "Sorry, I forget you're human."
"…easy mistake?" my sentence came out as a question, "What time is it?"
She glanced at her watch. "7:30, it's best to get an early start so we can go to as many shops as we can today."
Chelsea immediately burst into the room dramatically in a pair of white paperbag shorts, a dark grey camisole, and a thin white cardigan, with a beige wide brim hat. She looked like she'd just come out of some kind of summer fashion magazine with her dark handbag swung over her shoulder. Goddamn, I wish I was that pretty.
"Who's ready for shopping?" she squealed, "I'm so happy the weather is so cloudy and miserable today so I can finally wear this out!"
"You look nice," I mused tiredly, "really suits you…" I trailed off with a yawn.
"Thanks Eli, what are you wearing?"
I pursed my lips together and bustled over to my wardrobe. After pondering over my choices for a while, I settled on a white spaghetti strap tank top and a light blue plaid mini skirt which ended on my upper thigh. I wasn't given much time to prepare to leave for the day before being ushered out of my door by the two childish vampires I was to go shopping with, so I simply stuffed my credit card, my phone, some snacks I'd stashed away in a drawer earlier, and my sunglasses into a simple light pink handbag which I placed over my right shoulder and followed them out of the door.
Walking down the empty corridor, we didn't bump into anyone really minus the odd lower guard, but I already assumed one of the two crazy vampires in front of me had already informed someone of our girls trip. Instead of leaving discreetly down the underground tunnel system, we exited the building through the front doors straight into the town square with the stone water fountain in the middle. Both Chelsea and Corin had their crests hidden underneath their tops but kept them on just in case. Apparently, removing the crest was forbidden, and if it were to get lost, no replacement would be provided, which explained why the guard all held onto theirs so tightly.
"Where should we go first?" Corin asked excitedly.
"I know a shop that sells incredible dresses," Chelsea squealed, one hand grabbing each of our arms and dragging us along behind her. Something told me this was going to be a long day.
Rafael rushed at full speed into the throne room where the kings were all sat in their respective thrones boredly. Marcus seemed vaguely interested in something he saw out of the small window overlooking Volterra, while Caius continued to scowl into the distance at nothing in particular. Aro sighed, turning his gaze to the guard that stood before him.
"What is it, Rafael?" he asked calmly but with a clear irritated tone underneath it.
"Masters, Eliana is not in her quarters and I cannot find her anywhere in the grounds. Chelsea and Corin have both gone as well without any explanation, and none of them are answering their phones," Rafael explained.
All three kings expressions suddenly became very alarmed, their eyeballs almost falling out of their sockets.
"WHAT?!" Caius stood up angrily, his irises already darkened with fury and rage. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE HAS GONE?!"
Marcus instantly bolted off out of the room, his brothers trailing just behind. They all stopped at their mate's quarters; the door was wide open, yet she usually hated having the door open. Stepping inside, they inhaled her familiar, sweet, reassuring scent, but she was absolutely nowhere to be seen. As they all glanced around the room, they realised that not only had she left, but she had taken her immediate valuables with her, including her phone and credit card. Marcus turned on her bond sight and saw the familiar gold ties stretching away from the walls of the castle and into the distance, beginning to dim slightly on their end.
She'd left them? Just like that? Without any explanation? No, it couldn't be true. But it was, this didn't make any sense.
Caius was furious, furious that his own guard were so incompetent that they couldn't fulfil a simple task of protecting his mate, furious at his ungrateful, childish mate for leaving him as if he meant nothing to her. God, he should've placed her in the tower while he had the chance.
Aro was desperate to find her, to bring her back to him. She was his property, she belonged to him. How dare she leave him? He had been nothing but kind and patient to her. After everything he'd done for her, all the love he'd shown her, and this was how she repaid him?
Marcus, meanwhile, was completely distraught. First Didyme, and now his sweet, innocent little Eliana? Fate was cruel, too cruel, but he would find her and bring her back to him if it was the last thing he did.
The brothers appeared back in the throne room where the guard were all gathered patiently, awaiting instructions. Strangely enough, Marcus was the one to give them.
"You will find Eliana, and you will bring her back to us unharmed immediately. Go."
"Corin, opinions on this," Chelsea, held a deep red a-line skirt up to her body and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.
"It's cute, Chels, and fits dress code," Corin responded happily.
"Eli, what do you think?" Chelsea asked me.
"I like it, brings out the colour in your eyes," I shrugged with a giggle.
"You think? Thanks," she shot a warm smile and carried the stack of clothes she was holding over to the blonde Italian woman at the counter.
I stood there impatiently holding several small white shopping bags in my hands from designer brands like Gucci and Prada. I must've already bought maybe a thousand Euros worth of clothes, but I regretted nothing. Honestly, I hadn't had this much fun shopping in a long time. I'd been talked into buying many new dresses, a leather jacket, and even a pair of black stiletto heels which I knew I'd regret soon after.
Corin was busy skimming through the sales rack and jokingly holding up the most hideous items she could find, including a pair of brown jeans, and not a nice shade of brown either.
I gasped and placed a hand on my forehead melodramatically. "Absolutely gorgeous, boo," I teased.
She flipped her hair behind her back with a perfect smile, somehow still looking like a supermodel in anyway, and continued searching through some truly atrocious garments. Geez, no wonder they're on sale. Once Chelsea had finally paid for the addition to her clothing haul, she hooked arms with each of us and led us out of the store down the cobbled lanes of Volterra. To other people, we probably looked like those perfect friends in magazines, all dressed in expensive outfits strutting down through Volterra with designer shopping bags and grins on our faces.
We took a right turn up a narrower, quieter alleyway, which was where Rafael suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I jumped up in fright, placing a hand over my fast-beating heart.
"Oh geez, you scared me," I panted.
"What do you need, Rafael?" Chelsea snarked and took the piss out of his name, "In case you haven't noticed, this is a girl's shopping trip. You can join us if you want-"
Without warning, two other guards I hadn't seen before each grabbed Chelsea and Corin while Rafael held my arm tightly. They began forcefully walking us further up the alleyway and around the back of the streets, much to my annoyance.
I tried to shake him off but failed. "I can walk by myself," I turned my nose up at him.
He simply ignored my statement and continued for the castle. I continuously asked what the hell was happening as well as the other two, but we weren't given a single response, which was really pissing me off. The kings had better have a solid reason for dragging me out of my girl's day.
Once we finally arrived in the usual marble throne room, Chelsea and Corin were quickly dragged away out of the room and down the corridor by two other guards. I wondered where Felix or Demetri were, but more importantly why the fuck they were being manhandled like that without explanation.
Rafael quickly shoved me forwards carelessly towards my mates so that I almost fell flat on my face. "Oi, watch it, you crazy ass vampire," I snapped before turning my gaze back to them irritatedly, "What the hell is happening?"
"We will ask the questions here, girl. You truly dared to run away from us on a whim, just like that?" Aro seethed, almost trembling in anger. His piercing gaze alone made me want to cower away in fear, but I somehow managed to stand my ground. And 'girl'? When had my title been demoted to 'girl'? What memo did I miss?
I stood there confused. Didn't the Gucci shopping bags in my hands explain where I was? "W-what? I was just-"
"After everything we have done for you!" Caius piped up with open aggression. "We provided you with a castle, wealth, respect, and you dare to leave us, you ungrateful, spoilt, childish brat?!"
What the hell had they been told? I thought Chelsea and Corin already told them about our shopping trip. But how dare he call me a brat. God, if I wasn't a human, I would rip that little scowl right off his face. I was practically shaking with fury at this point. Why the fuck were they being so goddamn unreasonable? Even Marcus was giving me the most hurt, heart-wrenching expression possible.
"No, you don't understand, I-"
"No, you don't understand!" Aro shouted suddenly, startling me. His eyes were full of nothing but rage which scared the hell out of me, and this time a kiss definitely wasn't going to make this problem disappear. "We have been nothing but kind and patient to you, you insolent girl, and this is how you thank us? Take her away!" he demanded.
I gasped, too in shock to form any actual coherent words. 'Take her away'? Who the fuck did they think I was? Some kind of pet they could order around and send wherever they pleased? Jesus Christ, I was shopping, shopping!
Santiago quickly materialised beside me and hooked his arm around mine, leading me backwards out of the room much more carefully and gentler than Rafael had done before which I did appreciate. I honestly couldn't remember a time I wanted to cry that much before in my life and, from the looks of things, my mates weren't going to be the ones to fix this problem.
Author's note: I apologise if this chapter is short word count wise, but a lot happens in it soooo yeah. Do you think the kings are being irrational? I mean, damn, all the poor girl wanted to do was shop. I tried to keep how they would react to this whole thing in character, so I hope this chapter doesn't sound too stupid.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!